* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
Download CAGE Annual Report 2014 - Centre for Arctic Gas Hydrate
Survey
Document related concepts
Marine debris wikipedia , lookup
Southern Ocean wikipedia , lookup
Indian Ocean wikipedia , lookup
Anoxic event wikipedia , lookup
Ocean acidification wikipedia , lookup
The Marine Mammal Center wikipedia , lookup
Marine habitats wikipedia , lookup
Marine biology wikipedia , lookup
Future sea level wikipedia , lookup
Physical oceanography wikipedia , lookup
Marine pollution wikipedia , lookup
Effects of global warming on oceans wikipedia , lookup
History of research ships wikipedia , lookup
Transcript
CAGE – Centre for Arctic Gas Hydrate, Environment and Climate Annual report 2014 CA G E – A NNUA L R E P O R T Professor Jürgen Mienert on board UiT’s research vessel Helmer Hanssen. Photo: Torger Grytå A word from the director CAGE studies sub-seabed methane hydrates and related greenhouse gas release processes in Arctic environments. Enormous amounts of methane hydrate, an ice-like substance, exist in the ocean floor at high pressure and low temperature. Ocean warming makes it potentially vulnerable to melting. We know that methane released in this way acted as a powerful greenhouse gas accelerating climate warming in the geological past. We aim to examine what it could mean to our future. Our internationally recognized work was awarded Norwegian Centre of Excellence in 2013, giving us significant funding from the Norwegian Research Council for 10 years. This allows us to build a long-term strategy within Arctic marine science. Scientific highlights Our campaigns on the R/V Helmer Hanssen were very successful in 2014. We have among seafloor and ocean research activities effectively coordinated shipboard surveys and aircraft campaigns. Our field stretches over vast geographic distances in the Arctic: from the Kara Sea in the East, via the Barents Sea, to the Norwegian sector of the Arctic Ocean. CAGE teams focusing on the biogeochemistry and benthic biology of methane seeps choose from several dynamic systems to document sources and sinks of methane, including future impact on the environment. We have made new discoveries on almost every expedition. CAGE reached a full operational phase, and made major investments in lab and ocean observatory infrastructure, where one high-tech system is already under development by Kongsberg Maritime. Observations on various scales make it possible for us to do a systematic study of methane sources and sinks from the subseafloor to the surface of the ocean as well as through time. A 4-D understanding of the link between gas hydrate, fluid flow, and environmental change is one of our primary missions. Key achievements over the last year are the inclusion of biogeochemical modeling and microbiological studies. Current scientific results show a large diversity in the flux of methane that reaches the ocean surface. CAGE 2 is obtaining geophysical measurements from beneath the seafloor to quantify the amount of methane hydrate. Oceanographic and geochemical measurements from within ocean water masses help us to quantify the amount of methane released from hydrate and distributed in the ocean. We are studying how active methane release sites, at the vast regions of shallow Arctic shelves, affect the atmosphere. Training and cooperation We have reached a high value of training at sea for our PhD students. We are leading a research school, Arctic Marine Geology and Geophysics, which is a part of The Norwegian Research School in Climate Dynamics. International collaboration is of great importance for CAGE. We have initiated projects in 2014 with many other distinguished national marine research establishments, and international marine institutions such as the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, USA. Other collaborations allowed for cooperation with several EU funded projects adding to our expertise. Such as Marine Gas Hydrates: An indigenous resource of natural gas (GEOMAR). Recruitment We have already grown beyond the initial plan of 40 positions including international collaborations. All of the offices have been established and we have recruited a significant part of laboratory engineers, scientific staff, and PhD students. Combining the growing number of field observations into groundbreaking advances of Earth and Environmental Sciences, and developing hypotheses-driven integrated research plans is a priority for the CAGE leadership and our young research team. The enthusiasm and dedication of our staff makes us confident that our ideas will influence the approach to climate challenges in the Arctic Ocean in the future. 3 Contents Infographic.................................................................4 Work Package 1: Sub Seabed Reservoirs.............7 Scientific highlights ....................................................8 Methane is leaking from offshore permafrost.................................................................10 Work Package 2: Sub-seabed ..............................13 Scientific highlights...................................................15 The Power of Ice .......................................................16 Work Package 3: Modern Seabed Group...........19 Scientific highlights...................................................20 Studying unknown climate culprit under the ocean floor..............................................22 Work Package 4: Water column..........................25 Scientific highlights...................................................26 Building state of the art ocean observatories.............................................................29 Work Package 5: Paleo Methane History..........31 Scientific highlights...................................................33 Arctic sea ice emerged 2,6 million years ago....................................................................34 Work Package 6: Pleistocene to present...........37 Scientific highlights...................................................39 Gulf Stream submerged during the last Ice Age..........................................................40 Work Package 7: Atmosphere..............................43 Scientific highlights...................................................45 Using Ship, Aircraft in Search for Methane Emissions..................................................47 The Arctic Marine Geology and Geophysics Research School......................................................48 Outreach and communication ...........................50 Outreach highlights..................................................51 Publications.............................................................52 Presentations, abstracts, posters ......................55 Organisation............................................................59 Professor Jürgen Mienert Centre Director Fact sheet.................................................................60 Final remarks...........................................................62 CAG E – A NNUA L REPO R T I nfog r ap h i c In fographic 4 Atmosphere Water column Seabed Sub seabed Gas Hydrate 5 CAG E – A NNUA L REPO R T W o r k P a c kage 1 Today methane gas flares, rise up from the Arctic Ocean floor on the Vestnesa Ridge in the Fram Strait. They reach up to 800 meters in the water column, the same hight as the largest man made structure in the world, Burj Khalifa in Dubai. Vestnesa is one of the main research areas for CAGE and datasets such as these are key to addressing the research questions of the Work Package 1. Illustration: A.Portnov/CAGE Work Package 1 6 7 WORK PACKAGE 1: Sub Seabed Reservoirs This work package focuses on two key questions: (1) how much carbon is stored in methane hydrate and free gas reservoirs in the Arctic, and how susceptible it is to climate change, and (2) at what rates, by which means, and under which circumstances is methane expelled from sub seabed reservoirs? Both of these questions link with other work packages on quantification of methane emissions, ecosystem impacts, coupling of ice sheet and gas-hydrate models and potential climate feedbacks. Team Leader: Stefan Bünz Stefan has ten years of broad research experience in marine geology and geophysics. A great part of his research is aimed to better understand gas hydrate systems, their distribution and their origin. Stefan holds a PhD degree in marine geology and geophysics from UiT The Arctic University of Norway. He has been an associate professor at the Department of Geology at UiT since 2007. Shyam Chand Andreia Plaza Faverola Sunil Vadakkepuliyambatta Pavel Serov Peter Franek Researcher Researcher Postdoctoral researcher Guest PhD candidate Postdoctoral researcher Sandra Hurter Giacomo Osti Alexandros Tasianas Alexey Portnov Sunny Singhroha Kate Waghorn PhD candidate PhD candidate PhD candidate PhD candidate PhD candidate PhD candidate CAG E – A NNUA L REPO R T W o r k P a c kage 1 Figure 1: (A) bathymetry map showing location of Vestnesa Ridge in the context of surrounding tectonics. Flare sites are indicated as grey dots; (B) Shows a seismic section from our 3D P-Cable data set imaging a gas chimney in the active part of Vestnesa Ridge. The inset (b) shows the link between gas chimneys and sea-seabed faults; (C) Shows a seismic section where fluid migration from serpentinized material is expected through a major fault underlying the gas hydrate system at the southern part) of Vestnesa Ridge. Scientific highlights We employ state-of-the-art technology in sub-seabed imaging using broadband high-resolution data. Our development of 4D time-lapse studies of subsurface gas migration improves models for fluid flow in subsurface sediments. Our target areas are the western Svalbard continental margin, the Barents Sea and the Kara Sea, while doing reconnaissance of hydrate occurrence and its stability in adjacent basins. New findings on Vestnesa Ridge, Svalbard Several CAGE cruises in 2014 were dedicated to the collection of acoustic data and geological samples from the area of Vestnesa ridge, offshore West-Svalbard.The ridge, at 1000 meter water depth, hosts a 100 km long gas hydrate system. This gas hydrate system is formed by thermogenic, abiogenic and microbial methane, a largely unexplored combination for gas hydrate formation. This makes it suitable for integrated study through a close cooperation between the different work packages in CAGE. Seafloor pockmarks and underlying gas chimneys are documented all along Vestnesa ridge. However, active seepage has been documented exclusively at the easternmost part of the ridge. We used high resolution 3D P-Cable seismic from the active and the inactive parts of Vestnesa Ridge to image the structures underlying these features. Our data show that the part of the ridge where gas seepage is observed at present consists of a highly faulted and fractured area. We present a model of seepage evolution along Vestnesa Ridge in time and space and suggest that tectonic stress has been one important mechanism influencing seepage of methane offshore west-Svalbard. (Published in 2015) Work Package 1 Discovery of a new gas hydrate system Additional seismic data acquired in 2014 documents a new gas hydrate system at the flanks of the active Knipovich oceanic spreading ridge. This system may be sustained by abiotic gas. Microbial and thermogenic gas generation from the degradation of organic carbon in ocean sediments is well known to form gas hydrates. However, there is a third type of gas, abiogenic gas (not related to decomposition of organic matter), that represents an additional source of gas for hydrates, that remains largely uninvestigated. At the western flank of Knipovich Ridge a gas hydrate province exists in > 2000 m water depth. In this slowspreading ridge, the generation of abiogenic methane is likely to have occurred during the high temperature serpentinization of ultramafic rocks. Analysis of Gas Hydrate Stability Zone dynamics in the Norwegian Arctic The Barents Sea is a major part of the North Atlantic where warm Atlantic water mixes with the cold Arctic waters. Abundant shallow gas accumulations, fluid flow features, and gas hydrates occur in the SW Barents Sea because of hydrocarbon leakage from deep reservoirs. Recent ocean warming has increased the bottom water temperature in the SW Barents Sea by at least one degree Celsius. We model the gas hydrate stability field in the SW Barents Sea over the last 50 years. The hydrate stability zone thickness is highly sensitive to the gas composition and the geothermal gradient, and show very high local variability. Ocean warming primarily affects hydrate stability most likely only in the upper few tens of meters of sediments. Our results show that increasing global ocean temperatures could cause destabilization of hydrates located within 100 meters of the seafloor in approximately 200 years. Modelling the evolution of climate-sensitive Arctic subsea permafrost in regions of extensive gas expulsion at the West Yamal shelf There is a significant expulsion of methane from shallow Russian shelf areas. This methane release may increase and be released into the atmosphere melting rates because of intense degradation of relict subsea permafrost. Modelling of the permafrost at the West Yamal shelf helped us describe its evolution from the Late Pleistocene to Holocene. Results suggest a highly-dynamic permafrost system that directly responds to even minor variations of lower and upper boundary conditions. The heat flux from below and/or bottom water temperature changes from 8 9 above, have a significant impact on permafrost. We present several scenarios of permafrost evolution. The model adapts well to corresponding field data, providing crucial information about the modern permafrost conditions in a warming Arctic. Microseismicity of fluid-leakage structures Analysis of long-term, 2-years seismic records from the Håkon Mosby mud volcano, situated on the continental slope of SW Barents Sea, documents several types of seismic signals: earthquakes, harmonic tremors and short duration events. We connected records of earthquakes with earthquakes that were localized and analyzed by seismological centers (International Seismic Centre, European–Mediterranean Seismological Centre, and NORSAR). Observed harmonic tremors occur in swarms that can last up to several hours. Periodicity of the occurrence of tremor swarms is about 6 hours based on statistical analysis. We suggest that the main mechanism behind these tremors is the fluid flow circulation in the conduit and/or pseudo-mud chamber. Also, the tremors may be resonant vibrations of gas bubbles that behave as coupled oscillators during the release of fluids and gases from the mud volcano. Infrastructures • One of the key technologies in CAGE is the highresolution P-Cable 3D seismic system, a national infrastructure developed and located at the UiT. Together with mini-GI gun sources, it delivers high-resolution broadband seismic data providing unprecedented detail of subsurface structure and stratigraphy. • CAGE has successfully applied to use the seafloor drill rig MeBo from University of Bremen on a cruise with RV Maria Merian. The campaign has been delayed but is now scheduled for summer 2016. CAGE plans to drill three locations on the Vestnesa Ridge in cooperation with MARUM, Bremen and GEOMAR, Kiel (Germany) Recruitment • Kate Waghorn started her PhD in October studying abiotic gas hydrate systems and fluid flow processes at mid-ocean ridges. • Sunny Singhroha started his PhD in December developing seismic detection technologies for hydrates and quantification of hydrocarbon trapped in hydrateand gas-bearing sediments on the Vestnesa and Svyatogor Ridges. CAG E – A NNUA L REPO R T W o r k P a c kage 1 Conceptual model of the West Yamal shelf, showing the continuous permafrost governing the documented gas expulsions. Map illustrating the extensive gas flare front in the water column (yellow lines) observed in 2010 and 2012. Maximum and minimum scenarios of continuous permafrost distribution, revealed from modelling results are marked with green and red lines respectively. Figure: CAGE. Methane is leaking from offshore permafrost The magnificent images of craters on Yamal Peninsula, caused by collapsing permafrost, have become world famous. But did you know that this permafrost extends to the ocean floor? And it is thawing. Text: Maja Sojtaric [Previously published on cage.uit.no, alphagalileo.com. eurekalert.com.] Yamal Peninsula – the end of the world in Siberia – has recently become world famous. A spectacular sinkhole appeared as out of nowhere in the permafrost of the area, sparking the speculations of significant release of greenhouse gas methane into the atmosphere. What is less known is that there is a lot of methane released from the seabed offshore the West Yamal Peninsula. Gas is released in an area of at least 7500 km2, with gas flares extending up to 25 metres in the water column. And even more methane gas is contained by a impermeable cap of now degrading permafrost on the ocean floor. “The thawing of permafrost on the ocean floor is an ongoing process, likely to be exaggerated by the global warming of the world’s oceans.” says PhD Alexei Portnov at Centre for Arctic Gas Hydrate, Climate and Environment (CAGE). Work Package 1 Portnov and his colleagues have in 2014 published two papers about permafrost offshore West Yamal, in the Kara Sea. Papers look into the extent of permafrost on the ocean floor and how it is connected to the significant release of the greenhouse gas methane. Permanently frozen ground Permafrost, as the word implies, is permanently frozen ground. For something to stay permanently frozen, the temperature must of course stay bellow 0 degrees Celsium. “Terrestrial Arctic is always frozen, it is on average extremely cold in Siberia which maintains permafrost down to 800 meters ground depth. But the ocean is another matter. Bottom water temperature is usually above zero. Theoretically, therefore, we could never have permafrost under the sea,” says Portnov “However, 20 000 years ago we had a last glacial maximum during which the sea level dropped to minus 120 meters. That means that this area was land, it was Siberia. And Siberia was frozen. The permafrost on the ocean floor today was established in this period.” Last glacial maximum was the period in the history of the planet when ice sheets covered much of the Northern hemisphere. These ice sheets profoundly impacted Earth’s climate, causing drought, desertification, and a dramatic drop in sea levels. The area of the Yamal Peninsula was not covered in ice, but it was exposed to extremely cold conditions. When the ice age ended some 12 000 years ago, and the climate warmed up, the ocean sea levels increased. Permafrost was submerged in ocean water, and started it’s slow thawing. The reason it has not thawed completely so far is that bottom water temperatures are low, some – 0,5 degrees. That could very well change. A fragile seal that is leaking It was previously proposed that the permafrost in the Kara Sea and other Arctic areas extends to water depths up to 100 metres, creating a seal that gas cannot bypass. Portnov and collegues have found that the West Yamal shelf is 10 11 leaking, profoundly, at depths much shallower than that. Significant amount of gas is leaking at depths between 20 and 50 metres. This suggests that a previously continuous permafrost seal is much smaller than proposed. Close to the shore the permafrost seal is 250 metres thick, but tapers off towards 20 metres water depth. And it is fragile. “The permafrost is thawing from two sides. The interior of the Earth is warm and is warming the permafrost from the bottom up. It is called geothermal flux and it is happening all the time, regardless of human influence.” says Portnov. Evolution and degradation Portnov used mathematical models to map the evolution of the permafrost, and thus calculate its degradation since the end of the last ice age.The evolution of permafrost gives indication to what may happen to it in the future. If the bottom ocean temperature is – 0,5 degrees celsius the permafrost would likely take 9000 years to thaw. But if this temperature increases, the process would go much faster, because the thawing than also happens from the top down. “If the temperature of the oceans increases by two degrees as suggested by some reports, it will accelerate the thawing to the extreme. A warming climate could lead to an explosive gas release from the shallow areas.” Permafrost seals the free methane gas in the sediments. But it also stabilises gas hydrates, ice-like structures that usually need high pressure to form. “Gas hydrates normally form in water depths under 300 metres, because they depend on high pressure. But under permafrost the gas hydrate may stay stable even where the pressure is not high enough, because of the constantly low temperatures.” Gas hydrates contain huge amount of methane gas, and it is destabilisation of these that is believed to have caused the craters on the Yamal Penninsula. CAG E – A NNUA L REPO R T W o r k P a c kage 2 The seafloor of Håkjerringdjupet, offshore Troms northern Norway, records the activity of past ice sheets. This bathymetry dataset images beautifully streamlined landforms formed by the deformation of sediment beneath fast-flowing ice streams which drained ice from the mainland in the east, to the shelf edge in the west. Illustration: MAREANO/NGU Text: Monica Winsborrow. Work Package 2 12 13 WORK PACKAGE 2: Sub-seabed The role of ice ages for fluid flow and methane hydrate. The primary scientific focus of this work package relates to the interactions between fluid flow, methane hydrate, and ice sheets. This is addressed through the following research questions: 1.How did ice sheets/paleo-environments vary through the ice ages? 2.How do gas hydrate, fluid flow and deeper hydrocarbon systems interact with glacial processes? 3.How did gas hydrate stability fields change through the ice ages? In addition we contribute to lithological, chronological and environmental frameworks for glacial sediments in chosen CAGE study areas. Team Leader: Professor Karin Andreassen Professor Karin Andreassen is a professor in marine geology and geophysics at UiT The Arctic University of Norway. She holds a PhD degree in applied geophysics from UiT. Her main research areas are the Cenozoic developments of the Barents Sea. She focuses on glacial geomorphology, sediments and processes, shallow gas and fluid flow. Andreassen has also been a visiting professor at the University of Cambridge, the University of Montpellier, and the University of Barcelona. Alun Hubbard Leonid Polyak Henry Patton Monica Winsborrow Professor Adjunct professor Postdoctoral researcher Researcher Emilia Daria Piasecka Mariana da Silveira Eythor Gudlaugsson Calvin Shackleton Nikolitsa PhD candidate Ramos Esteves PhD candidate PhD candidate Alexandropoulou PhD candidate PhD candidate CAG E – A NNUA L REPO R T W o r k P a c kage 2 Ice velocity Ice thickness Ice loading Isostatic depression Subglacial methane HSZ at full glacial Methane HSZ deglaciation Subglacial temperature Examples of numerical modelling of the Barents Sea ice sheet through the ice ages. Ice sheet development and parameters that are important for hydrate stability conditions. Bottom right: Distribution of methane hydrate stability zone (gray) during glacation and deglaciation. Work Package 2 14 15 Scientific highlights A key part of our work is to develop numerical models of the Weichselian ice sheet development in the Arctic, and to deliver detailed empirical datasets against which model outputs can be constrained. Our work depends on the analysis and integration of a wide range of datasets including: 3D/2D seismic, highresolution seafloor bathymetry, and sediment cores to provide information on former ice sheet extent, dynamics and interaction with hydrate systems. In 2014 we completed a cruise to Bjørnøyrenna in the Barents Sea. We identify this area as a potential CAGE supersite, since we can observe gas hydrate controlled leakage of methane from deep hydrocarbon reservoirs to the water column and atmosphere. We also identified a novel regulation of ice stream dynamics by gas hydrates with potential implications for ice stream stability in the Greenland and Antarctic Ice Sheets. We have finalized agreements for collaboration with institutions in Russia, Murmansk Arctic Geological Expedition (MAGE) and VNIIOkeangeologia in St. Petersburg, allowing access to essential empirical datasets from the previously disputed zone in the central Barents Sea and from the Eastern Barents and Kara Sea. Weichselian numerical models of ice sheet development in the Arctic form a key part of our work. In 2014 we collated a dataset of boundary conditions (e.g. climate, geothermal, topography/bathymetry) and constraining geophysical datasets (geomorphological mapping, absolute dates) for future modelling. This work formed the basis for a publication of a major review of the Barents Sea domain in early 2015. Our research team applies coded validation tools for model outputs e.g. flow directions and ice margin positions. Moreover, we do preliminarily sensitivity experiments of the Eurasian Ice Sheet model and quantification of parameters important for hydrate stability conditions (ice loading, subglacial temperature, isostatic depression). Infrastructures: CAGE uses geophysical and geological infrastructure built up through previous activities at UiT. We look to further develop new high-resolution geophysical technology in acquisition, processing and interpretation of the subsurface. We have a good access to the UiT’s ice-going Research Vessel Helmer Hanssen. We also expect to have good access to the new ice-breaker Kronprins Haakon, which is planned to be launched in 2016 with Tromsø as a port. Recruitment • Nikolitsa Alexandropoulou, started her PhD to update and refine the Neogene stratigraphic framework for the Svalbard–Barents Sea margin. • Monica Winsborrow started as a researcher to work on integration of Russian Barents Sea datasets and investigation of gas hydrate-ice sheet interactions. CAG E – A NNUA L REPO R T W o r k P a c kage 2 Alun Hubbard’s boat Gambo in front of a glacier. Photo: A. Hubbard. The Power of Ice Ice has weighed heavy on the Arctic for at least two million years. And now it's rapidly retreating. Present studies of ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica help us unravel the past. The past provides perspective on the future. Text: Maja Sojtaric We are just coming out of an ice age, as remarkable as it may sound. The Quaternary period, as geologists call it, has also been called The Great Ice age and it is the period that we currently live in. It started 2,7 million years ago and has sporadically covered the higher latitudes with ice. Culminating in the last glacial maximum, some 25.000 years ago, when Northern Europe and America were covered with ice sheets up to 4 km thick. Just imagine that somebody smacked Mont Blanc on top of Denmark. The Barents Sea in the Arctic, now deep and secretive, was covered by just such a massive ice sheet 25 millennia ago. This ice soaked up the water: The levels of all of Earth’s oceans dropped by 120 metres. Ice sheets and their outlet glaciers forever changed the face of the Earth. Deep fjords of Norway were bulldozed. Other mega terraforming also took place: Submerged on the continental shelf in the Barents Sea are enormous troughs carved by ice streams, large fastmoving tongues of ice draining from these ice sheets. This phenomenal power of ice is on going today in Antarctica and Greenland. No wonder it is attractive to scientists and adventurers alike. Professor Alun Hubbard at CAGE is both. The berg that sank Titanic On the west coast of Greenland is the outlet glacier that once gave birth to the most famous iceberg of all, the one that sank the luxury ship Titanic. In that same fjord Hubbard’s humble boat Gambo spent several winters 100 years later. Looking at images of Gambo, a small vessel with the red Welsh dragon on the bow, you could rightfully ask what had possessed the glaciologist to let this seemingly fragile thing spend the winter next to a giant, groaning wall of ice. You could easily fit hundreds of Gambos in the famous vessel praised as unsinkable. “On a small boat you can do whatever you want. Such as observe Greenland’s glaciers in the frigid winter months, which nobody else does.” says Hubbard. No only did Gambo stay afloat, but also provided the basecamp for the collection of new winter data. The melting Greenland Greenland’s ice sheet is melting at a record rate and is the largest contributor to global sea level rise. In 2014 it lost 500 cubic kilometres of ice to the ocean, much of which was in the form of calving bergs. The scene of Gambo’s Work Package 2 frosty endeavour was Store Glacier, one of the largest and fastest moving marine terminating glaciers in West Greenland. But as opposed to its many neighbours, it doesn’t serve as a good example of retreating ice sheet due to climate change: It’s 500 meter calving front has been in the same position for close to 50 years. “The stability of Store glacier is what makes it interesting. It allows us to calibrate the natural processes that make glaciers tick. We then incorporate this knowledge into our models at CAGE to better understand natural systems that glaciers are a part of.” Hubbard explains. What makes glaciers calve and melt in Greenland is the violent encounter with another force of nature: The North Atlantic Current. This tropical warm water is attributed to up to 50% of the loss of mass from the marine edges of Greenland ice sheet. When two forces collide It seems logical that tropical ocean water carried around by the North Atlantic Current can melt ice. But it is not that simple, the warm water runs deep. You need a catalyst that brings it to the glacier front, and the glacier itself provides that. If you look carefully at the seawater at the front of a glacier it will often appear as if it is boiling. Plumes of fresh water shooting out from the ice cause this bubble bath effect. The reaction between salinity and density of the warm and cold water create prefect conditions for the upwelling of warm Atlantic water from depths of 400 metres. “The ocean is doing most of damage to the front of the glacier. And it is happening in the winter too, even though we can’t see it because the fjords are frozen.” The source of the fresh water is the surface melting of the ice sheet, which is prevalent in the summer with warm temperatures. But it also comes from the friction created by glacier’s movement, heating up the base. And that continues throughout the winter months. “Ocean water contains much more energy than air. The atmosphere cools in winter, but the deep ocean waters keep warm to fuel continued melting of the glacier front even throughout long frigid months.” The end of the ice age The very same processes undermined the massive ice sheet in the Barents Sea. For much of the Quaternary the ice sheet weighed heavy on what is now the sea bottom. Then 16 17 it started retreating rapidly by the same violent encounter with warm, salty water conveyed by the North Atlantic Current. (This is supported by several paleontological studies from CAGE professor Tine Rasmussen and her group. See link) Professor Karin Andreassen at CAGE leads the team of modellers, glaciologists, and geologists that Alun Hubbard is a part of. The team looks at 3D seismic records of the seabed, paleontological discoveries and present day processes to discern what happened to the Barents Sea ice sheet from its maximum extent to complete demise. “Field data of today are integrated in modelling experiments that help us create snapshots, time slices of the past.” says Andreassen. What happened to methane? Professor Andreassens group is particularly interested in what happened to the methane hydrates, a solid ice form of the greenhouse gas under the ocean floor. Under the immense pressure and cold temperatures of the ice sheet this volatile structure was created and remained stable for millions of years under the Barents Sea bottom. But then ice sheet collapsed. Now the stability zones are constrained to narrow slivers of deepest ocean. (see figures) “When the ice disappeared, the enormous pressures exerted by the ice sheet were released. The floor became warmer as the ocean once again occupied the basin. This destabilized the methane hydrates. And when they melt, we get explosive flares that release a very potent greenhouse gas into the ocean.” says Andreassen. Why does it matter? The present helps us understand the past. And that could be more important to our future than we know. We don’t know enough about the events of deglaciation in the Barents Sea, says Andreassen. But we better learn. Because the planet’s ice sheets are still retreating. And under all that pressure, there is methane hydrate. “Barents Sea during the last glacial maximum is much like the ice sheet in West Antarctica today. There are several studies that suggest that there are large methane hydrate reservoirs under West Antarctica. That makes it very important to learn why the Barents Sea ice sheet varied through time and what happened to the methane hydrate in the past.” CAG E – A NNUA L REPO R T W o r k P a c kage 3 On land and near the ocean surface, sunlight provides the energy that allows photosynthesis. But the dark depths of the ocean, where sun never shines, are also teeming with life. Many microbes have evolved chemosynthetic (instead of photosynthetic) processes that create organic matter by using oxygen in seawater to oxidize hydrogen sulfide, methane, and other chemicals that seep out of the ocean floor. Photo: NOAA Okeanos Explorer Program/USGS Work Package 3 18 19 WORK PACKAGE 3: Modern Seabed Group It is uncertain how methane release from gas hydrates affects life on the seabed. The overall purpose of the Modern Seabed Group is to quantify the effects of such release on biological communities associated with the seabed. We examine benthic organisms, communities, food webs, and geochemical proxies to understand the range of biological responses to varying intensities of natural hydrocarbons seeping from marine sediments in the Svalbard/Barents Sea area over time and space. Team Leader: JoLynn Carroll JoLynn Carroll is a marine geochemist who studies marine geochemistry, benthic biology, and environmental pollution. She is an adjunct professor at the Department of Geology, UiT The Arctic University of Norway, and assistant director at Akvaplan-niva, a research-based company providing advisory services and research in aquaculture and marine and freshwater environments. JoLynn Carroll holds a PhD in marine science from the University of South Carolina in Columbia, USA, and has also studied innovation leadership at the Norwegian Business School. William G. Ambrose, Jr. Michael Carroll Wei-Li Hong Friederike Gründger Emmelie Åström Visiting professor Researcher Postdoctoral researcher Postdoctoral researcher PhD-stipendiat CAG E – A NNUA L REPO R T W o r k P a c kage 3 Atmosphere Methane supply ini am for na CH4 How large is this biological sink? fau Modern Seabed cro fer ma s Water Column microfauna Reservoirs, supply mechanisms, release histories Illustration: JoLynn Carroll & Torger Grytå Scientific highlights In 2014 we have established Modern Seabed Group (MSG) through recruitment of core personnel in Arctic, marine, benthic ecology, food web analysis, sclerochronology, microbiology, and geochemistry. Throughout our field activity in 2014, we have done preliminary sampling a 5 different Arctic seep locations spanning water depths from 90 to1700 meters in order to identify key locations for long term investigation. Quantitative analyses of species composition and community structure along a gradient of methane intensity provide us with an understanding of the intensity and spatial extent of methane influence. We have made many direct observations of bacteria, microorganisms and macrofauna at the sites of seafloor methane release. Combined with basic sediment characteristics and sediment geochemistry, this provided us with a necessary framework for assessing methane ecosystem effects. We used stable isotopic analyses to trace methane-derived carbon in the biosphere; from this we can assess the extent to which methane is utilized as an energy source in the marine ecosystem. In situ rate measurements of methane utilization by seep-associated microbial communities provides us with evidence of methane Work Package 3 sequestration from the environment into the marine biosphere. We are doing controlled laboratory studies which will help us elucidate the range of potential climate-associated effects on methane seep communities. Modeling of sediment and geochemical parameters in the porewater, provide us with rate estimates for key biogeochemical reactions. We are also developing and testing benthic biological monitoring technologies, such as sclerochronology (the analysis of mollusk shell rings), as indicators of biological responses to different types of hydrocarbon leakage. These activities provide a well-constrained understanding of the range of biological responses and associated effects over multiple temporal and spatial scales to varying intensities of methane leakages from marine sediments. Discovery of three new species • Primary Production – We have isolated and identified the presence of methane oxidizing bacteria in sediments and seawater • Consumers – We have discovered specialized, seepassociated fauna (polychaetes, bivalves) present in high abundance in methane-rich areas. • Community structure – We have identified strong community-level effects of methane seeps on faunal structure that differ in the deep-sea and shelf. We have discovered up to three novel (undescribed) species of a seep-associated bivalve. 20 21 • Determine metabolic activity rates of methanogenic, methanotrophic and sulfate-reducing microorganisms that inhabit Arctic methane seep sediments. • Establish microbial microcosms to investigate activity or community changes caused by different methane concentrations and increasing temperatures. • Investigate the carbon cycling around the sulfatemethane-transition-zone by integrating information from sediment and pore water geochemistry with numerical modeling. • Constrain centurial methane emission events from the Vestnesa Ridge pockmarks with geochemical proxies • Construct a food web for an Arctic methane seep site. • Investigate already identified shell beds in other cores from the Arctic ocean floor. Further investigate the observations of localized high pelagic biological activity/biomass in methane plume areas, that suggest a link between methane emission and biological processes in the water column. Infrastructures Infrastructures used to support these CAGE activities include an accredited (ISO9001) benthic faunal sorting and identification laboratory, a chemical analysis laboratory accredited for hydrocarbon analyses in sediments and seawater and a microbiology laboratory with cultivation facilities and molecular genetic identification. Strategy plan The activities in the Modern Seabed Group will contribute to an overall assessment of the fate and effect of methane in the Arctic marine environment. We have developed a strategy document to guide our activities in the future. We are in negotiation to obtain the use of a benthic lander including a benthic flux chamber for methane flux measurements at the sediment-water interface. Akvaplan-niva maintains a laboratory and equipment for sclerochronological processing and analysis. For experimental work in a laboratory setting, Akvaplan-niva maintains a marine laboratory facility with flowing seawater and temperature regulation which allows experimental work to elucidate processes and to quantify flux rates. In the coming years we plan to: • Describe the composition and function of microbial communities at methane seep-related sediments in areas of the Arctic. • Image seep areas off Western Svalbard. Such work, performed under controlled and continuously monitored conditions, is needed to complement field measurements. Field investigations utilize advanced coring technologies equipped with camera and video capabilities. CAG E – A NNUA L REPO R T W o r k P a c kage 3 500 μm A tubeworm living close to the cold methane seeps at the bottom of the ocean. Also called siboglinid. Photo: Emmelie Linea Åström Studying unknown climate culprit under the ocean floor Methane. Remember the name. A climate gas much more harmful than CO2. But tubeworms and bivalves at the sea bottom may save us yet. BY: Asbjørn Jaklin/Nordlys (Excerpt of an article that appeared in connection to Arctic Frontiers conference 2015) Welcome to the dark, strange and mysterious world in the depths of the Arctic Ocean. While the sunlight is the engine for eco systems further up in the ocean, methane gives nourishment to bacteria, worms and bivalves on the ocean floor. Methane is a simple gas, it’s also called swamp gas, found in increasing amounts in our atmosphere. A lot of it stems from the agriculture. But enormous amounts are also tied down in the soil layers on land and on the bottom of the ocean. Warmer climate increases the expulsion of methane from the ocean floor. That which is not eaten by organisms at the bottom, may bubble up to the surface. Work Package 3 22 23 20 mm Possible new species of bivalve belonging to the family of Thyasiridae was found in Storfjord area Barents Sea 350 m of water depth in July 2014. Photo: Graham Oliver – National Museum of Wales UK For many years we have heard how dangerous CO2 is for climate. NB! Methane is a 25 times more potent climate gas than CO2. Excellent research Over 40 scientists from 20 countries at the UiT The Arctic University of Norway are now studying the effects of methane release on life in the ocean, and on the climate. It is a grand effort that will be going on for the ten years, as a Centre of Excellence. This is a scheme by Norwegian Research Council that funds research centres so that they can build up research on high international level. Centre for Arctic Gas Hydrate, Environment and Climate is the name. Abbreviated to CAGE. “Fascinating,” says work package leader JoLynn Carroll at CAGE “We are discovering new species on the ocean floor. This is truly basic research.” Stable while frozen Gass hydrates are chemical compounds of water and gass. This is how methane is stabilized in the layers of soil, on land and in the oceans. The concern is that increased temperatures due to climate change will melt the ice and release the methane. In the ocean methane has a special function as food for bacteria, worms and bivalves. “We believe that these ecosystems on the bottom of the ocean can effect released methane so that it decreases the negative effect of the gas on the climate budget. Our research aims to figure out how big this effect is.” says Carroll. West of Svalbard Scientists at CAGE are conducting fieldwork in the ocean west of Svalbard, and at the Storfjord- and Bjørnøyrenna north in the Barents Sea. The marine eco systems here have been studied for many decades. But until now the scientists have concentrated their efforts on the sun driven system, where the photosynthesis causes a boom in the production of biomass during the light summer season. Carroll and her colleagues study life in the ocean from 80 to 1000 meters. Sunlight does not penetrate that far down. “We are studying an alternative eco system where expulsion of methane from the ocean bottom is the energy source. The gas is the source of life for bacteria in the sediments and tube worms and bivalves on the ocean floor”, says Carroll. CAG E – A NNUA L REPO R T W o r k P a c kage 4 −120 −125 Depth (m) −130 −135 −140 −145 −150 9.786 9.784 −128 Depth(m) −130 −45 −132 Lon −134 9.78 −60 −138 −140 −65 9.781 Lon 9.78 9.779 78.6432 78.6430 78.6428 78.6426 78.6424 Lat −70 Gas bubbles in the water column are detected and located with an acoustic method: a calibrated split beam echosounder. Bubbles seen in the echograms form streams or so called “flares” (boxed in this figure), which are post-processed to quantify gas release from the seafloor. The recorded echosounder signal is edited, removing signals from the seafloor: Fish, critters, and interference from other instruments, before calculating gas flow rates from individual flares. The right circle shows an unedited flare and the left shows the corresponding edited flare. We use the edited flare data to calculate gas flow rates: red is strong, and blue is a weak signal. Illustration: CAGE. Text: Pär Jansson. 78.643 78.6425 9.778−5578.642 −136 −142 9.783 9.782 78.643 −50 9.782 Lat Work Package 4 24 25 WORK PACKAGE 4: Water column We quantify local and regional methane release from the seabed into the water column in Arctic areas around Svalbard. Our aim is to examine the present day release variability of methane on time scales from hours to years. We study how this release responds to oceanographic changes. This is achieved through observatories deployed in targeted areas where methane release is known, as well as during in-situ observations on research cruises. Measurements from the seabed, the air and from land stations, along with modelling analysis, will provide needed insights into sources of elevated methane concentrations and the reason for their variability. Team Leader: Bénédicte Ferré Bénédicte Ferré is a physical oceanographer whose research activities span from sediment resuspension and transport to oceanographic data analysis associated with methane release. She holds a PhD degree in oceanography from the University of Perpignan, France. She was a post-doctoral researcher at the United States Geological Survey in Woods Hole, USA, before joining the Department of Geology at UiT The Arctic University of Norway in 2008 and CAGE in 2013. Jens Greinert Anna Silyakova Anoop Mohanan Nair Pär Gunnar Jansson Visiting professor Postdoctoral researcher Engineer PhD candidate CAG E – A NNUA L REPO R T W o r k P a c kage 4 79ºN 78.5ºN 6ºE 8ºE 10ºE 12ºE Oceanographic stations western Prins Karls Forland. All stations were from 2014 cruises. Scientific highlights Development of sea floor observatories together with Kongsberg Maritime was one of the main events in 2014. The contract with Kongsberg was signed on October 6th and the kick-off meeting occurred on October 30th to finalize the plan and design. Kongsberg Maritime is building two trawl proof landers including the following instruments: ADCP, CTD, hydrophone, echosounder, turbidimeter, methane-, pH-, and fluorimeter, CO2, and O2 sensors, and telemetry. A telemetry communication is installed in order to download data to the ship when. Throughout spring 2015 we will test the lander in fjords near Tromsø for telemetry, instrumentation and release system, using RV Helmer Hanssen to deploy and retrieve the lander. Both ocean observatories will be deployed in Fram Strait offshore Svalbard in the beginning of July 2015. A new hypothesis Two cruises in 2014 conducting oceanographic measurements and collecting water samples for dissolved methane and nutrients allowed us to propose the “SeepFertilisation Hypothesis”. Most of the samples were analysed for dissolved methane onboard the research vessel using the gas chromatograph from GEOMAR (Germany). Some of the samples from the cruises were sent to GEOMAR for further analyses. All water samples for nutrient concentration were sent to and analysed at the Institute of Marine Research in Bergen. Our new Work Package 4 26 Bottom CH4 nmol L-1 27 Surface CH4 nmol L-1 300 25 250 150 15 10 0 0 78.5ºN 5 78.5ºN 50 78.6ºN 78.6ºN 100 78.7ºN 78.7ºN 20 200 Flares 9.5ºE 10ºE 10.5ºE Water samples 9.5ºE 10ºE 10.5ºE Bottom (left) and surface (right) methane concentration on a shallow area western Prins Karls Forland. Note the different scale between graphs. Small grey dots are water samples. Red dots represent identified flares from the echo sounder mounted on the ship. hypothesis, developed together with John Pohlmann (USGS, Woods Hole) and Jen Greinert (GEOMAR), suggests that methane release from seeps increases ocean productivity causing a drawdown of CO2 from the atmosphere. Large areas can become a potential carbon sink. The cruises were very successful. Oceanographic stations including water samples and CTD cast are shown in the figure, where red dots represent stations from June, green dots from July and brown from October. Along with these data, we analysed echo sounder data for flare detection and gas flux quantification. Preliminary results from the shallow area (80–150m) highlight high methane concentration on the ocean bottom (<300nmol/l) but no major increase at the surface. About 165 flares were identified with fluxes ranging from 1 to 3000 ml/min. Infrastructures 1. Gas Chromatograph In order to analyse water samples for dissolved gas content (C1–C6 hydrocarbons (incl. methane), CO2), essential for several of our teams. We purchased a gas chromatograph in December 2014. The instrument will arrive in May 2015, and will be used in the land-based laboratory as well as on the research vessel. 2. Open-path CH4 sensor LI7700 As a part of N-ICE2015 cruise in close collaboration with the Norwegian Polar Institute (NPI), an open-path methane analyser from Li-COR (LI7700) was acquired to be integrated with the Campbell Eddy covariance system owned by NPI. Integration was done at IT-AS (ITAS Instrumenttjenesten AS), and the entire system is now in the Arctic Ocean to measure methane flux from sea ice surface and waters below. 3. CONTROS CH4 sensor One of the CH4 sensors from CONTROS that were included in the ocean observatory. Recruitment Pär Jansson started his PhD in May 2014 to work on echo sounder data and modeling of bubble transport. His cosupervisor is Jens Greinert from GEOMAR (Germany). CAG E – A NNUA L REPO R T W o r k P a c kage 4 Director Jürgen Mienert signed the contract with Arild Brevik from Kongsberg Maritime. Also present were team leader in charge of ocean observatories, Benedicte Ferré (centre) and oceanographer Anna Silyakova, post.doc (left). Photo: Maja Sojtaric The observatories will include several instruments, be self-contained and wirelessly connected to the surface, sending data on a regular basis to CAGE scientists. Instruments will monitor methane release from the seabed to the water column as well as CO2, ocean acidification and circulation. Photo: Kongsberg Maritime. Work Package 4 28 29 Building state of the art ocean observatories The technology company Kongsberg Maritime is building two ocean observatories for CAGE. Observatories will be deployed in Fram Strait offshore of Svalbard this year, to monitor major methane leaks from the seabed. Text: Maja Sojtaric [Previously published on cage.uit.no] “It is the first time that research is being done on the entire methane emission system from the seabed to the atmosphere. To measure these emissions we need new high-technology instruments that are on the forefront of development.” says Benedicte Ferré, who is the team leader for the water column research and responsible for the observatories. Pioneering work Recently CAGE signed a contract with Kongsberg Maritime to build two observatories that will eventually sit on the seabed off the coast of Svalbard for an entire year. The observatories will include several instruments, be selfcontained and wirelessly connected to the surface, sending data on a regular basis to CAGE scientists. Instruments will monitor methane release from the seabed to the water column as well as CO2, ocean acidification and circulation. The data from these observatories will give significant information that will help understand processes related to climate change. At the forefront of technology “We need a company on the forefront of technology to build this pioneering instrumentation. Kongsberg was a good choice for us, because of their experience with relevant industries, among other things.” says Ferré. Kongsberg is better known for its extensive development of infrastructure for space technology as well as for maritime and hydrocarbon industries. The contract with CAGE is a further step into development of Arctic environmental observation. “The maritime industry has in recent years gone through several major R&D programs within subsea environmental monitoring, and underwater sensor networks. The observatories to be delivered to CAGE, fit very well into the track record as a hands-on exercise in environmental monitoring and our environmental team are very excited to start this collaboration with CAGE, said Arild Brevik, Kongsberg Maritime Subsea Division upon signing the contract. CAG E – A NNUA L REPO R T W o r k P a c kage 5 Methane-derived carbonate crust formation is a striking phenomenon that occurs in places where methane seeps from the ocean floor. These crusts are called authigenic which means that they are formed in the place where they are found. This means that they can tell a story about the past and current methane leakage at the floor of the ocean. This carbonate crust was found offshore Vesterålen. Photo: Jochen Knies. Work Package 5 30 31 WORK PACKAGE 5: Paleo Methane History Neogene to Pleistocene. The main goal of this work package is to investigate the timing of hydrocarbon leakage in the high Arctic. Did it happen abruptly, or did it occur periodically over millions of years. The research will be conducted on various time-scales including pre-glacial and glacial environmental settings and will provide new knowledge on the impact of tectonic and climatic events on stabilities of gas hydrates and deeper hydrocarbon reservoirs. Team Leader: Jochen Knies Jochen Knies is a senior researcher at the Geological Survey of Norway in Trondheim. He does marine geological and environmental investigations along the continental margin of Northern Norway, the Barents Sea, Svalbard and the Arctic Ocean. Jochen holds a PhD degree in marine geology from the University of Bremen. He was a post.doc at Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Germany, and a visiting professor at the University of Hawaii, USA. Joel Johnson Antoine Cremiere Soma Baranwal Terje Thorsnes Visiting professor Postdoctoral researcher Postdoctoral researcher Researcher Reidulv Bøe Shyam Chand Karl Fabian Aivo Lepland Simone Sauer Kärt Upraus Researcher Researcher Researcher Researcher PhD candidate PhD candidate CAG E – A NNUA L REPO R T Ma W o r k P a c kage 5 BS AI BS ES ACEX 910 910 Gr ACEX HR SBa Pliocene Arctic sea ice reconstruction (left: 5 million years ago; right: 2.6 million years ago). Fluid flow pathways, exemplified by 3D seismics on Veslemøy High, SW Barents Sea. Work Package 5 32 33 Examples of phosphatized microfossils whose consistent cylindrical shape is indicative of a biogenic origin, typically attributed to methanotrophic archaea in a seep-influenced setting Scientific highlights Our newly developed and robust chronology for the Plio-Pleistocene in the Arctic allowed us to reconstruct the emergence of the modern sea ice cover in the Arctic Ocean. This achievement provides important baseline knowledge for climate modelling of future scenarios. We will continue this work on Pliocene sea ice reconstructions in the Arctic Ocean by applying coupled Pliocene climate and ice sheet modelling in collaboration with the University of Leeds, U.K. We discovered and reconstructed two major cold-vent sites on the Lofoten margin and southwestern Barents Sea, that became apparently active after the last ice age. We integrated ROV and forefront acoustic technologies and advanced geochemical analysis. A multi proxy study of methane-derived carbonate crusts using petrographic, geochemical and isotopic tools has the overarching aim to explore the potential of crusts as archives of past methane fluxes. One of our other highlights is a 2.0 billion year old venting system in NW Russia, which shows the presence of a highly diverse microbial community. This community consists of modern-like methanotrophic archaea and sulfur metabolizing bacteria in phosphorous-rich setting. Recent geological fieldwork and drillcore sampling in Russia provided unique evaporate and phosphorite materials for studying environmental consequences of Earth’s oxygenation. We will continue our study on the oldest phosphorites on Earth and test if the oxygenation of the Earth at 2.4 billion years led to an increase in the sulphate and oxygen concentrations of oceans. This would have created widespread habitats for sulphur oxidising bacteria and their associated microbial consortia, which in turn led to the worldwide advent of phosphogensis. Infrastructures A new 2G cryogenic rock magnetometer funded through CAGE is now installed and ready to use at the Geological Survey of Norway. It will allow (1) to improve the late Cenozoic paleomagnetic timescale and (2) study fossil gas hydrate systems by means of seep-related authigenic greigite formation in the Arctic. The new facility will be available for graduate and PhD students as well as Post doc fellows from all national and international partners. Recruitment Kärt Üpraus started her PhD on formation of ~2 billion year old worldwide phosphorites and the role of sulphur cycling. Related projects • Natural hydrocarbon emissions and their relation to neo-tectonics and glacial dynamics (2012–2015), Knies, J. (Project leader). Funding: RWE-Dea Norge • Neotectonics and fluid flow processes – Phase III 2013– 2016 – Studies of carbonate crusts, Thorsnes, T. (Project leader). Funding: Lundin Norway. CAG E – A NNUA L REPO R T W o r k P a c kage 5 Arctic sea ice is important habitat for several Arctic species, such as the Polar Bear. Photo: USGS. Arctic sea ice emerged 2,6 million years ago “We have not seen an ice free period in the Arctic Ocean for 2,6 million years. However, we may see it in our lifetime.” says marine geologist Jochen Knies. He has studied the historic emergence of the ice in the Arctic Ocean. The results were published in Nature Communications in 2014. Text: Gudmund Løvø (NGU) / Maja Sojtaric (CAGE) Four to five million years ago, the extent of sea ice cover in Arctic was much smaller than it is today. The maximum winter extent did not reach its current location until around 2.6 million years ago. This new knowledge can now be used to improve future climate models and future scenarios for methane release and carbon cyling. “We have not seen an ice free period in the Arctic Ocean for 2,6 million years. However, we may see it in our lifetime. The new IPCC report shows that the expanse of the Arctic ice cover has been quickly shrinking since the 70-ies, with 2012 being “the year of the sea ice minimum”, says marine geologist Jochen Knies. He is a research scientist at CAGE and Geological Survey of Norway (NGU). In an international collaborative project, Jochen Knies has studied the trend in the sea ice extent in the Arctic Ocean from 5.3 to 2.6 million years ago. That was the last time the Earth experienced a long period with a climate that, on average, was warm before cold ice ages began to alternate with mild interglacials. Work Package 5 34 35 Fossils reveal past sea ice extent “When we studied molecules from certain plant fossils preserved in sediments at the bottom of the ocean, we found that large expanses of the Arctic Ocean were free of sea ice until four million years ago,” Knies tells us. Seabed samples from Spitsbergen A deep well into the ocean floor northwest of Spitsbergen was the basis for this research. It was drilled as part of the International Ocean Drilling Programme, (IODP), to determine the age of the ocean-floor sediments in the area. “Later, the sea ice gradually expanded from the very high Arctic before reaching, for the first time, what we now see as the boundary of the winter ice around 2.6 million years ago,” says Jochen Knies. Then, by analysing the sediments for chemical fossils made by certain microscopic plants that live in sea ice and the surrounding oceans, Knies and his co-workers were able to fingerprint the environmental conditions as they changed through time. Arctic Ocean likely to be completely free of sea ice The research is of great interest because present-day global warming is strongly tied to a shrinking ice cover in the Arctic Ocean. By the end of the present century, the Arctic Ocean seems likely to be completely free of sea ice, especially in summer. This may be of major significance for the entire planet‘s climate system. Polar oceans, their temperature and salinity, are important drivers for world ocean circulation that distributes heat in the oceans. It also affects the heat distribution in the atmosphere. This will allow a driect escape of greenhouse gas methane from open ocean waters to the atmosphere but also direct exchanges between carbon sources and sinks. Trying to anticipate future changes in this finely tuned system, is a priority for climate researchers. For that they use climate modeling, which relies on good data. “Our results can be used as a tool in climate modelling to show us what kind of climate we can expect at the turn of the next century. There is no doubt that this will be one of many tools the UN Climate Panel will make use of, too. The extent of the ice in the Arctic has always been very uncertain but, through this work, we show how the sea ice in the Arctic Ocean developed before all the land-based ice masses in the Northern Hemisphere were established,” Jochen Knies explains. “One thing these layers of sediment enable us to do is to “read” when the sea ice reached that precise point,” Jochen Knies tells us. The scientists believe that the growth of sea ice until 2.6 million years ago was partly due to the considerable exhumation of the land masses in the circum-Arctic that occurred during this period. “Significant changes in altitudes above sea level in several parts of the Arctic, including Svalbard and Greenland, with build-up of ice on land, stimulated the distribution of the sea ice,” Jochen Knies says. “In addition, the opening of the Bering Strait between America and Russia and the closure of the Panama Canal in central America at the same time resulted in a huge supply of fresh water to the Arctic, which also led to the formation of more sea ice in the Arctic Ocean,” Jochen Knies adds. All the large ice sheets in the Northern Hemisphere were formed around 2.6 million years ago. International effort Scientists at CAGE, UiT The Arctic University of Norway, NGU, University of Plymouth, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Stellenbosch University in South Africa and Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats in Barcelona have collaborated in this work. CAG E – A NNUA L REPO R T W o r k P a c kage 6 Foraminifera are crucial for understanding climate of ages gone by. When they die the shells become a part of the ocean sediment. The temperature of their lifetime stays inscribed in the chemistry of their shells, making them micro-thermometers that reveal thousands of years of climate change. Photo: Tine Lander Rasmussen. Work Package 6 36 37 WORK PACKAGE 6: Pleistocene to present Methane, ocean acidification and CO2. We monitor ocean acidification related to methane emissions. We follow the development in known areas of methane seeps, by yearly sampling of benthic foraminifera communities, microscopic organisms that are sensitive to methane emissions. We also study fossils of foraminifera in sediment cores together with surface samples to reconstruct methane emissions related to climate and oceanographical changes. Team Leader: Tine Lander Rasmussen Tine Rasmussen is a professor at the Department of Geology, UiT The Arctic University of Norway. Her research includes paleoceanography, paleoclimate, paleoecology, micropaleontology, abrupt climate and oceanographic changes, long time series, Arctic, and sub-Arctic areas. Tine Rasmussen has a PhD in marine micropaleontogy from the University of Aarhus (Denmark). She has worked at Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research, University of Copenhagen (Denmark), Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (USA), Lund University (Sweden) and The University Centre in Svalbard. Giuliana Panieri Chiara Consolaro Associate professor Postdoctoral researcher Katarzyna Zamelczyk Edel Ellingsen Mohamed Ezat Kamila Sztybor Andrea Schneider Postdoctoral researcher Research engineer PhD candidate PhD candidate PhD candidate CAG E – A NNUA L REPO R T W o r k P a c kage 6 Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) micrographs showing a detail of the shell of Melonis barleeanum, benthic foraminifera. Detailed inspection of the foraminifera shell provides useful information on primary calcification and secondary precipitation of methane-derived authigenic carbonate occurring at methane seep sites. The study highlights the importance of using advanced microanalytical techniques to investigate this unique bioarchive. Text and image: Giuliana Panieri. Reconstruction and quantification of planktonic foraminifera response to changes in surface ocean chemistry due to shifts in concentration of Shell weight records from sediment cores (Zamelczyk et al., 2012; 2013; 2014) from the Fram Strait compared to atmospheric CO2 concentration (Monnin et al., 2004; Etheridge et al., 1998; Keeling et al., 2009). atmospheric CO2 from the past 30,000 years to the present day in the northern North Atlantic Work Package 6 38 39 Scientific highlights We monitor development in seep areas by annual sampling to study eventual changes in methane release and ocean acidification related to methane emissions. Sediment cores and surface samples are studied to reconstruct methane emission in the past in relation to climate and oceanographic changes. Past bottom water temperatures are reconstructed by means of Mg/Ca ratios, oxygen isotopes and transfer functions on benthic foraminiferal species. Bottom current activities are reconstructed using sortable silt and mineral magnetics. Ocean acidification related to emission of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere and emission of methane to the water column in the past and present is studied by means of boron isotopes, B/Ca ratios and shell weight of foraminifera. We have performed sediment and fauna analyses throughout 2014 including: carbon-14 datings, isotope analyses (18-O, 13-C, 11-B), element analyses (Mg/Ca, B/Ca, Sr/Ca ratios). Major parts of these analyses were performed on research stays at Columbia University, NY, USA (M. Ezat), at Alfred Wegener Institute, Bremerhaven, Germany (K. Zamelczyk), at Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark (T.L. Rasmussen), at Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain (G. Panieri). These analyses will continue in 2015 as well. In 2014 we had cruises to Vestnesa, Storfjorden, the Barents Sea and fjords and shelf off Tromsø for sediment sampling, plankton towing and water sampling for chemical analyses of pH, CO2, CH4, inorganic nutrients and particulate and dissolved organic content. Infrastructures: A new plankton net (HydroBios) allowed to improve sampling at sea. A major investment including a new laboratory scientist will allow to run thermoscientific MAT 253 Stable Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometer System equipped with Flash HT Plus elemental analyzer, GasBench II, and ConFlo IV universal continuous flow interface for clumped isotopes purchased, to be installed in 2015. There are only two such advanced laboratories in Norway, one at the Bjerknes Centre at the University of Bergen, and one at CAGE at UiT The Arctic University of Norway in Tromsø. To provide records for the global background signal of greenhouse gases and climate change, areas largely unaffected by methane are studied as control areas. Geochemical records from measurements of the foraminifera shells and fauna analyses will help us evaluate the changes in methane emissions, while studies of living and fossil species distribution and abundance of the benthic foraminifera community in methane seep areas will indicate the degree of methane release through time. Recruitment: Andrea Schneider has been recruited to a PhD position in February 2014. She will work on a thesis entitled:“History of seafloor methane emissions and their relationship with Pleistocene climate change”. CAG E – A NNUA L REPO R T W o r k P a c kage 6 Colloquially referred to as the Gulf Stream, the warm North Atlantic Current is partly responsible for our mild North European winters. It flows into the Nordic seas, where it cools down in winter and releases heat to atmosphere. It becomes denser and sinks to the bottom of the Nordic seas. It forms an important part of the global circulatory system of ocean currents. Gulf Stream submerged during the last Ice Age The warm Atlantic water continued to flow into the icy Nordic seas during the coldest periods of the last Ice Age infuencing deep-water gas hydrate stability. Text: Maja Sojtaric/cage.uit.no An ice age may sound as a stable period of cold weather, but the name deceives. In the high latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere, the period was characterized by significant climate changes. Cold periods (stadials) switched abruptly to warmer periods (interstadials) and back. in the Nordic seas during the cold stadials. Cold bottom water temperatures of 0,5°C was observed during the warm interstadials, which is fairly similar to what we have today. How is this possible? So the air was getting colder, but the deep ocean water was getting warmer, during the coldest periods of the Ice Age. How is this possible? “It is widely thought that during cold periods of the last Ice Age the warm Atlantic water had stopped its flow into the Nordic Seas. The results of our recent study suggest that the Atlantic water never ceased to flow into the Nordic Seas during the glacial period,” says Mohamed Ezat, PhD at Centre for Arctic Gas Hydrate, Environment and Climate (CAGE) at UiT, The Arctic University of Norway. Colloquially referred to as the Gulf Stream, the warm North Atlantic Current is partly responsible for our mild North European winters. It flows into the Nordic seas, where it cools down in winter and releases heat to atmosphere. It becomes denser and sinks to the bottom of the Nordic seas. It forms an important part of the global circulatory system of ocean currents. The study, published in Geology*, documented that bottom water actually warmed up to up to 5°C at 1200 m depth “Cold, deep water from this little area of the Nordic seas, less than 1% of the global ocean, travels the entire planet Work Package 6 and returns as warm surface water. This has been a fairly stable process for the last 10 000 years. The events here are significant for the entire ocean system. But if we go back to the Ice Age things were quite different,” says professor Tine Rasmussen, also from CAGE. Warm water under the ice The reason was that ice sheets across Scandinavia and North America produced a large amount of fresh melt water from icebergs. This means that the surface water could not achieve the required density to sink – this is a process that depends on salinity. The warm Atlantic water was saltier, and therefore heavier and subducted at depth and reached to the bottom, actually heating up beneath a lid of ice and melt water, that prevented the release of heat to the atmosphere. “Warm water was there, but deep under the cold, icy surface. So the climate experience was colder, as the atmospheric records from Greenland ice cores show. But what eventually happened, is that the warm water reached a critical point, surged upwards to the surface, and contributed to the abrupt warming of the surface water and atmosphere,” says Ezat. Micro-thermometers Prof. Rasmussen suggested this already in 1996** and a conceptual model was published in 2004***. “Our results were debated, because we didn’t have exact temperature measurements. Ezat and co-authors applied a new method to measure the exact temperature from the sediment cores collected north of the Faroe Islands,” says professor Rasmussen. The temperature is measured in the shells of single celled organisms called benthic foraminifera. When they die the shells become a part of the ocean sediment. The temperature of their lifetime stays inscribed in the chemistry of their shells, making them microthermometers that reveal climate of the ages gone by. “The amount of magnesium in the shells of specific species of foraminifera depends primarily on temperature. By 40 41 measuring the ratio of magnesium to calcium we can estimate changes in temperature. We were lucky to find a continuous record of well-preserved benthic species for the analyses,” says Ezat. Significant for future climate Understanding what happened with our ocean systems during the Ice Age, helps us understand what may happen to them if ice on Greenland and Antarctica melts in the future. Fortunately, the ice sheet over Greenland is much smaller than the ice sheet during the Ice Age and thus with less potential to seriously disturb the system. “It is however, imperative to consider recent localized changes around Greenland and Antarctica in the light of our results. The basal melting due to subsurface warming represents an important component of the current ice mass loss,” Ezat points out. “Also, increase of melt water in the East Greenland Current may cause a weakening in the deep convection in the Nordic Seas. This may cause a warm subsurface inflow that may reach bottom on the East Greenland slope. Such a scenario, though very uncertain, has the potential to influence the stability of gas hydrates on the slope.” Gas hydrate is essentially frozen methane gas under the ocean floor. If it melts in both deep and shallow water areas it has a potential to release huge amounts of this hyper potent greenhouse gas. References: * Persistent intermediate water warming during cold stadials in the southeastern Nordic seas during the past 65 k.y. Mohamed M. Ezat, Tine L. Rasmussen and Jeroen Groeneveld. Geology, 2014. ** Circulation changes in the Faeroe–Shetland Channel correlating with cold events during the last glacial period (58–10 ka). T. L. Rasmussen, E. Thomsen, L. Labeyrie, and T.C.E van Weering, Geology, 1996. ***The role of the North Atlantic Drift in the millennial timescale glacial climate fluctuations. Rasmussen, T.L., and E. Thomsen, Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 2004. CAG E – A NNUA L REPO R T W o r k P a c kage 7 The atmospheric observatory on Zeppelin Mountain, near Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard. At 79° N, the station is located in an undisturbed Arctic environment, away from major pollution sources. Influence from local pollution sources is also limited by the observatory’s location at 474 metres above sea level, which means that most of the time it is above the local inversion layer. The unique location of the observatory makes it an ideal platform for the monitoring of global atmospheric change and long-range pollution transport. Photo: Ove Hermansen/NILU Work Package 7 42 43 WORK PACKAGE 7: Atmosphere Part of the MOCA project. How much of the methane that is stored as gas hydrate in the seabed actually reaches the atmosphere? It is in the atmosphere that the greenhouse gas can have most significant impact on global warming. Current scientific results show a large diversity in the flux of methane from ocean to the atmosphere. Our objective is to quantify the present effects methane from gas hydrates has on the atmosphere, and potential climate impacts of the gas in the decades and centuries to come. Team Leader: Cathrine Lund Myhre Cathrine is a researcher at NILU – Norwegian Institute for air research and the project leader of the MOCA project. She has a PhD in in physical chemistry from University of Oslo, Norway. Her main research is on atmospheric compositional change and atmospheric measurements. In particular she works with natural and anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases and aerosols. She studies and their sources, concentrations and long term trends, especially in Arctic and Sub-Arctic regions. Jürgen Mienert Gunnar Myhre Andreas Stohl Professor, CAGE, UiT Researcher, CICERO Researcher, NILU CAG E – A NNUA L REPO R T W o r k P a c kage 7 The modified BAe 146-301 large Atmospheric Research Aircraft (the ARA) is owned by the Natural Environment Research Council, UK. Photo: Facility for Airborne Atmospheric Measurements (FAAM) Work Package 7 44 45 Scientific highlights In the summer of 2014, we carried out a well-coordinated, successfull ship- and aircraft- campaign. All instruments for measuring greenhouse gas and fluxes worked well at both the ship and aircraft sensor installations. This includes the sampling of air for trace gas and isotopic analysis, and all the related procedures. All samples are at NILU (Oslo), for analysis and manuscripts for highly ranked scientific journals and conferences are underway. During the campaign, the weather offshore Svalbard was calm and on our side. Thus, the most ambitious flights above sea surface were possible, with the aircraft going as low as 15 m above the sea over large areas. It was even possible to be on route together with RV Helmer Hanssen, though at a different speed (600km/hr aircraft versus 20km/h ship). No long range transport episodes of industrial pollution seem to have influenced our measurements, neither at the ship offshore Svalbard or Zeppelin station on land. This is a great advantage as we are studying the natural sources and fluxes of greenhouse gas methane. This campaign has provided us with new and important climate data that national and international teams are working on. The (Picarro) installations on board RV Helmer Hanssen allowed to measure for the first time methane concentrations for both ocean surface water masses and atmosphere including flight measurements. The national and international research work was driven by the desire to gain more knowledge about the transport of greenhouse gas from a potentially enormous but virtually unknown Arctic region of natural driven ocean-floor gas seeps. Joint project CAGE and MOCA (Methane emissions from the Arctic Ocean to the Atmosphere: Present and Future Climate Effects) have joint forces togheter with Norwegian Institute for Air Research (NILU) and Center for International Climate and Environmental Research (CICERO) When atmospheric teams meet ocean teams through joint projects, one of the most important links are climate modellers. A group of climate modellers from CICERO and NILU will use accurate methane measurements from both the ocean and atmosphere to model and quantify the amount of CH4 released from the ocean to the atmosphere above. The modelling results will provide scenarios of potential future climate effects from destabilization of methane hydrate deposits in a warming world, and will focus on scenarios in 2050 and 2100. Infrastructure: This unique research cooperation combines landbased measurements using Zeppelin station on NW Svalbard, ship-based measurements aquired with RV Helmer Hanssen at UiT The Arctic University of Norway, and aircraft-based measurements aquired by research aircraft from Universities of Cambridge and Manchester (FAM and MAMM projects). CAG E – A NNUA L REPO R T W o r k P a c kage 7 B2 A2 D10 D9 D7 D8 D5 D6 D4 D3 D1 D2 D0 Screenshot of the integrated positioning system at FAAMs research aircraft during low flight west of Svalbard. The ambitious flight plan meant to cross over all the points marked “D” in the figure. The medium-sized aircraft flew constantly approximately 100 meters above sea level, but descended to about 15 meters for profiling. The skilled pilots used spare fuel tanks to repeat passages over the area where scientists believe methane seeps out, and thus doubled the amount of data collected. The measurements from the aircraft will be used together with the results from the ship, to consider methane flux at sea level in the Arctic. Illustration: Torger Grytå/NILU/Colourbox Work Package 7 46 47 Using Ship, Aircraft in Search for Methane Emissions The amount of methane in the atmosphere is increasing. Is the seabed one of the sources for the greenhouse gas? To answer this question, CAGE is measuring methane from ocean to atmosphere, using some truly cool gadgets. Text: Maja Sojtaric/cage.uit.no The seabed releases huge amounts of methane to the ocean. We don’t know how much is released and reaching the atmosphere and whether it is one of the major sources for the greenhouse gas. It is still unknown, how much is coming from thawing offshore permafrost and how much is coming from hydrate dissociation. In the summer of 2014 Cage led a big research campaign, collecting methane measurements from seabed to ocean to atmosphere, in close collaboration with colleagues at Norwegian Institute for air research (NILU), Center for International Climate and Environmental Research – Oslo (CICERO), and Cambridge and Manchester University, UK. Potential future climate effects MOCA-project, funded by the Norwegian Research Council is an ideal partner. It applies advanced measurements and modeling to quantify the amount and present atmospheric impact of methane originating from hydrates. Research ship, aircraft, underwater installations, and Zeppelin observatory on Svalbard, are some of the tools used to find out if methane emissions from the ocean floor, affect our atmosphere. The sources and amount of gas that reaches the atmosphere from the ocean are still a mystery. Carbon cycles are very complex processes. An impressive and successful flight campaign The measurements started in mid-June, when UiTs research vessel Helmer Hanssen set out on a six-week long cruise to undertake marine and atmospheric measurements in regions of northwestern Svalbard. CAGE had already placed the monitoring equipment on the seabed in this location, to measure ocean currents, temperature and methane emissions. A research aircraft joined RV Helmer Hanssen during the first week of July, measuring variations in methane concentration in the atmosphere. This is the first time at this location, that such air and sea measurements of methane were done simultaneously. The aircraft was impressively operated by colleagues from University of Cambridge, flying as low as 15 meters above the sea surface. CAG E – A NNUA L REPO R T A M GG – Resea r c h S c ool One of the stops on our field trip to Italy were mud volcanos at Salse di Nirano. Photo: Maja Sojtaric. The Arctic Marine Geology and Geophysics Research School The Arctic Marine Geology and Geophysics Research School (AMGG), led by CAGE staff, provides researchers and students in-depth knowledge of Arctic marine geology and geophysics, and gas hydrate in cooperation with the Department of Geology. The Research School offers cruises, seminars, international workshops, and courses through which it trains a new generation of scientists. The aim is to understand the multiple facets of how methane release impacts the marine environment and climate system. Annual AMGG workshop. The purpose of the annual workshop provides the students with the opportunity to present their project and explore various aspects of the research process in a supportive environment with supervisors. Highlights of 2014 March–April Winter School on Sea Ice Variability in the Arctic – Past and Present Conditions, was a collaboration between CAGE and the National Research School in Climate Dynamics (ResClim). International and national speakers were invited to cover topics about geological and geophysical aspects of sea-ice in the Arctic. They gave lectures on reconstructions of past sea ice extent, oceanography, basic sea ice physics, interactions between sea ice ocean and air, and remote sensing. In addition, specific case studies on cutting edge sea ice related topics were presented. 13 PhD students attended. Course in ArcGis. Denise Rüther, Sogn og Fjordane University College. The course combines theoretical lectures, practical exercises and examples. June Associated workshop to the AMGG research school cruise. The workshop consisted of a series of lectures by CAGE researchers and invited guest lecturers; in addition, PhD students presented their projects. Given the very different topics presented the discussions were very stimulating and the students received a feedback from experienced researchers. AMG G – Resea rch Sc oo l 48 49 Leader: Associate professor Giuliana Panieri Giuliana is research leader at CAGE and Associate professor in environment and climate at the Department of Geology, UiT The Arctic University of Norway. She holds a PhD degree in Paleontology, University of Modena and Reggio-Emilia, a Research Post-Doctorate, University of Bologna. She has professional experience from the University of Barcelona (Spain), the University of Oldenburg (Germany), LSU Louisiana State University (USA), ISMAR CNR (Italy), and as a micropaleontology consultant for petroleum companies. She is using micropaleontology and geochemistry to study present and past methane emissions and methane hydrate dissociations. She seeks to answer questions regarding the timing, periodicity, and intensity of methane emissions with the final goal of assessing their evolution through time. She has published several peer-reviewed articles on these topics and has been invited to national and international conferences. See AMGG website: http://amgg.uit.no AMGG has 28 PhD- students, 13 Post-docs, and 21 supervisors. “Symposium: Methane-rich marine environments: Ecology and geochemistry” consisted of talks covering the different aspects of methane-rich environments, from biogeochemistry, microbiology, micropaleontology, and methane derived carbonate, also from other continental margins. Among the international speakers (Helge Niemann, Antonine Cremiere, Soma Baranwal), Emeritus Barun K. Sen Gupta, pioneer in the study of micropaleontology in methane seep environments, presented data from the Gulf of Mexico and stimulated a very interesting discussion with students. AMGG research school cruise on board of RV Helmer Hanssen. The cruise brings PhD students and Master Students together with leaders from CAGE for extended periods of study and interaction. Target area: WestSvalbard Margin focusing on gas hydrates, fluid leakage systems and its biological, geochemical and environmental impacts. Activities: students received class instruction and experience in the field of Arctic research; Mini-projects to be performed in collaboration with CAGE leaders and expedition members. During the cruise, students compiled reports on a given topic required for evaluation subsequent to the cruise. September “Fluid emission fossil analogues” field trip, Italy. Scope of the field trip is to study fossil cold seep features exposed along the external part of the Northern Apennines as analogues to modern marine features. After the field trip, all participants agreed that CAGE PhD students would benefit from a similar field trip since they can see at real scale the proportion of fluid emissions features and use fossil analogues to refine interpretation of similar features in present day marine environments as seen in seismic and bathymetry data. October AMGG submitted two proposals in 2014: Research School on CHanging Climates in the coupled Earth SyStem (CHESS). Proposal to the Research Council of Norway for a national research school, 2016–2023. CHESS is approved for funding by RCN with a budget: 71 607 000 NOK. CAGE is a partner in the national consortium. PIRE: International Assessment of Earth System Impacts of the Thawing Arctic (ESITA). Partnerships for International Research and Education (PIRE), pre-proposal to National Science Foundation (NSF). December CAGE Christmas seminar. CAGE leaders presented 2014 achieved goals and 2015 plans. During the poster session, all students presented their PhD projects. CAG E – A NNUA L REPO R T O utr eac h a n d c ommu n i c atio n Our communications coordinator, Maja Sojtaric. Photo: Torger Grytå Outreach and communication As you have seen through the stories in this report we are dedicated to reaching out to general public with our research. Climate and environment issues are of crucial interest for the public and we take our responsibilities as stewards of this knowledge seriously. We maintain our own web page, cross publish our material to UiT’s webpage, and strive to do so in both Norwegian and English. We use international press services such as alphagalileo . org and eurekalert.com to disseminate our research to a greater audience. In addition we subscribe to Norwegian and Nordic services such as forskning.no, geoforskning.no and sciencenordic.no. Our communications coordinator facilitates press contact with national and international media, as well as manages our social media: Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Our scientists gave several presentations in 2014 to different audiences, such as representatives from the Norwegian Parliament and international delegations that visited Tromsø. They participate in press conferences (EGU 2014), give talks at international events (AGU 2014), contribute to blogs, and events such as Forskningsdagene. CAGE also collaborates with The University Museum in Tromsø on the next permanent exhibition on geology, in which several of our scientists will appear, and which has school children as primary target group. In 2014 we started with our Brown Bag Seminars, where both invited speakers and our own students give talks on chosen subjects. The seminars are open for the entire UiT community, and are maintained by two PhD students (Kate Waghorn, Emmelie Åström) together with our communications coordinator. Communications coordinator: Maja Sojtaric has worked for a decade as science journalist and editor at UiT’s science magazine Labyrint. She acts as an communications advisor for our scientists, gives workshops, and writes our stories. Occasionally she snaps a photo or two. Outreach and communi c atio n 50 51 Outreach highlights Norwegian outlets: NRK Radio (Norwegian public broadcaster) Metangass i Arktis truer klimaet. August 20, 2014. NRK Søndagsrevyen (Sunday News Review) Frykter konsekvenser av metanutslipp. September 14, 2014. Teknisk ukeblad Nye sensorstasjoner skal overvåke metanutslipp på havbunnen i Arktis. October 14, 2014. Nordlys -- Dette er ikke noe en kjøper på Biltema. October 12, 2014. Geoforskning.no Store metanutslipp under siste istid. May 2, 2014. Labyrint Hvorfor valgte du leirevulkaner? Issue 03, October 2014 Forskning.no Golfstrømmen stoppet ikke etter siste istid, October 10, 2014. Labyrint Utforsker vulkanens hemmeligheter. Issue 03, October Forskning.no Har funnet gammel grense for havis i Arktis. November 28, 2014. Science Daily, USA Emergence of modern sea ice in Arctic Ocean, 2.6 million years ago. November 28, 2014. Weather Network, USA Greenhouse gas leaking from Siberian permafrost, December 26. 2014 International outlets: Reporting Climate Science: Gulf Stream did not stop in last ice age. September 17, 2014 Phys.org The Gulf Stream kept going during the last Ice Age. September 16, 2014. Slate.com, USA The Last Time the Arctic Was Ice-Free in the Summer, Modern Humans Didn’t Exist. December 2, 2014. International Business Times, UK Methane ‘leaking profusely from offshore permafrost’ in Siberia. December 23, 2014 Gazeta.ru, Russia Метан взорвет морскую пучину, December 23, 2014. Sabado.pt, Portugal Aquecimento global acelera libertação de gás, December 30, 2014. EuropaPress.es, Spain El metano escapa del permafrost marino del Océano Ártico ruso. December 23, 2014. Other: Forskningsdagene Tromsø (Norwegian Science Festival) September, 2014. – Public booth on sclerochronology, William G.Ambrose, CAGE Visiting Professor. – Oceanography for school children on board RV Johan Ruud, Pär Jansson PhD, CAGE. Press Conference: “The changing Arctic”, EGU General Assembly, Vienna, Austria, April 2014. Giuliana Panieri, Associate Professor CAGE. Royal Geographic Society, UK ‘What’s going on in Greenland & who cares?’ November 2014. Talk by Alun Lloyd Hubbard, professor at CAGE. CAG E – A NNUA L REPO R T Pub l i c atio n s Publications Abbott, Peter M.; Austin, William E.N.; Davies, Siwan M.; Pearce, Nicholas John Geoffrey; Rasmussen, Tine Lander; Wastegård, Stefan; Brendryen, Jo Reevaluation and extension of the Marine Isotope Stage 5 tephrostratigraphy of the Faroe Islands region: The cryptotephra record. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 2014 (0031-0182) 409 s. 153–168 Andreassen, Karin; Winsborrow, Monica; Bjarnadóttir, Lilja Rún ; Ruther, Denise Christina Ice stream retreat dynamics inferred from an assemblage of landforms in the northern Barents Sea. Quaternary Science Reviews 2014 (0277-3791) 92 s. 246–257 Berndt, Christian; Feseker, Tomas; Treude, Tina; Krastel, Sebastien; Liebetrau, Volker; Niemann, Helge; Bertics, Victoria; Dumke, Ines; Dünnbier, Karolin; Ferré, Benedicte et al. Temporal constraints on hydratecontrolled methane seepage off Svalbard. Science 2014 (0036-8075) 343 s. 284–287 Bjarnadóttir, Lilja Rún ; Winsborrow, Monica; Andreassen, Karin Deglaciation of the central Barents Sea. Quaternary Science Reviews 2014 (0277-3791) 92 s. 208–226 Capron, Emilie; Govin, Aline; Stone, Emma J.; MassonDelmotte, Valérie; Mulitza, Stefan; Otto-Bliesner, Bette; Rasmussen, Tine Lander; Sime, Louise C.; Waelbroeck, Claire; Wolff, Eric W. Temporal and spatial structure of multi-millennial temperature changes at high latitudes during the Last Interglacial. Quaternary Science Reviews 2014 (0277-3791) 103 s. 116–133. Carroll, Michael; Ambrose, William G. Jr.; Locke V, William L.; Ryan, Stuart K.; Johnson, Beverly J. Bivalve growth rate and isotopic variability across the Barents Sea Polar Front. Journal of Marine Systems 2014 (09247963) 130 s. 167–180 Carroll, M.L., W.G. Ambrose, W.L. Locke, S.K. Ryan, B.J. Johnson. 2014. Bivalve growth rate and isotopic variability across the Barents Sea Polar Front. Journal of Marine Systems 130: 167-180. Chand, Shyam; Knies, Jochen; Baranwal, Soma; Jensen, Henning K.B.; Klug, Martin Structural and stratigraphic controls on subsurface fluid flow at the Veslemøy High, SW Barents Sea. Marine and Petroleum Geology 2014 (0264-8172) 57 s. 494–508 Chauhan, Teena; Rasmussen, Tine Lander; Noormets, Riko; Jacobsson, Martin; Hogan, K.A. Glacial history and paleoceanography of the southern Yermak Plateau since 132 ka BP. Quaternary Science Reviews 2014 (02773791) 92 s. 155–169 Consolaro, Chiara; Rasmussen, Tine Lander; Panieri, Giuliana; Mienert, Jurgen; Bünz, Stefan; Sztybor, Kamila Carbon isotope (δ13C) excursions suggest times of major methane release during the last 14 ka in Fram Strait, the deep-water gateway to the Arctic. Climate of the Past Discussions 2014 (1814-9340) 10 s. 4191–4227 Črne, Alenka E.; Melezhik, Victor, A.; Lepland, Aivo; Fallick, Anthony E.; Prave, Anthony R.; Brasier, Alex Petrography and geochemistry of carbonate rocks of the Paleoproterozoic Zaonega Formation, Russia: Documentation of 13C-depleted non-primary calcite. Precambrian Research 2014 (0301-9268) 240 s. 79–93 Davies, Siwan M.; Abbott, Peter M.; Meara., Rhian H.; Pearce, Nicholas J.G.; Austin, William E.N.; Chapman, Mark R.; Svensson, Anders; Bigler, Matthias; Rasmussen, Tine Lander; Rasmussen, Sune O. et al. A North Atlantic tephrostratigraphical framework for 130–60 ka b2k: new tephra discoveries, marine-based correlations, and future challenges. Quaternary Science Reviews 2014 (0277-3791) 106 s. 101–121 Donda, F.; Forlin, E.; Gordini, E.; Panieri, Giuliana; Bünz, Stefan; Volpi, V.; Civile, D.; de Santis, L. Deepsourced gas seepage and methane-derived carbonates in the Northern Adriatic Sea. Basin Research 2014 (0950091X) s. 1–15 Etiope, G.; Panieri, Giuliana; Fattorini, Daniele; Regoli, Francesco; Vannoli, Paola; Italiano, Francesco; Locritani, Marina; Carmisciano, Cosmo A thermogenic hydrocarbon seep in shallow Adriatic Sea (Italy): Gas origin, sediment contamination and benthic foraminifera. Marine and Petroleum Geology 2014 (0264-8172) 57 s. 283–293 Faust, Johan Christoph; Knies, Jochen; Slagstad, Trond; Vogt, Christoph; Milzer, Gesa; Giraudeau, Jacques Geochemical composition of Trondheimsfjord surface sediments: Sources and spatial variability of marine and terrigenous components. Continental Shelf Research 2014 (0278-4343) 88 s. 61–71 Publicatio ns Franek, Peter; Mienert, Jürgen; Buenz, Stefan; Geli, Louis Character of seismic motion at a location of a gas hydrate-bearing mud volcano on the SW Barents Sea margin. Journal of Geophysical Research – Solid Earth 2014 (2169-9313) 119 s. 6159–6177 Griggs, Adam J.; Davies, Siwan M.; Abbott, Peter M.; Rasmussen, Tine Lander; Palmer, A. P. Optimising the use of marine tephrochronology in the North Atlantic: a detailed investigation of the Faroe Marine Ash Zones II, III and IV. Quaternary Science Reviews 2014 (0277-3791) 106 s. 122–139 Grøsfjeld, Kari; De Schepper, Stijn; Fabian, Karl; Husum, Katrine; Baranwal, Soma; Andreassen, Karin; Knies, Jochen Dating and palaeoenvironmental reconstruction of the sediments around the Miocene/Pliocene boundary in Yermak Plateau ODP Hole 911A using marine palynology. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 2014 (0031-0182) 414 s. 382–402 Jakobsson, Martin; Andreassen, Karin; Bjarnadóttir, Lilja Rún ; Dove, Dayton; Dowdeswell, Julian A.; England, John H.; Funder, Svend; Hogan, Kelly; Ingólfsson, Ólafur; Jennings, Anne et al. Arctic Ocean glacial history. Quaternary Science Reviews 2014 (02773791) 92 s. 40–67 Joosu, Lauri; Lepland, Aivo; Kirsimäe, Kalle; Romashkin, Alexander E.; Roberts, Nick M.W.; Martin, Adam P.; Črne, Alenka E. The REEcomposition and petrography of apatite in 2 Ga Zaonega Formation, Russia: The environmental setting for phosphogenesis. Chemical Geology 2014 (0009-2541) 395 s. 88–107 Junttila, Juho; Carroll, JoLynn; Husum, Katrine; Dijkstra, Noortje. Sediment transport and deposition in the Ingøydjupet trough, SW Barents Sea. Continental Shelf Research 2014; Volume 76. ISSN 0278-4343.s 53 63.s doi: 10.1016/j.csr.2014.01.004. Junttila, Juho; Carroll, JoLynn; Husum, Katrine; Dijkstra, Noortje Sediment transport and deposition in the Ingøydjupet trough, SW Barents Sea. Continental Shelf Research 2014 (0278-4343) 76 s. 53–63 King, Edward L.; Bøe, Reidulv; Bellec, Valérie K.; Rise, Leif Christian; Skardhamar, Jofrid; Ferré, Benedicte; Dolan, Margaret F.J. Contour current driven continental slope-situated sandwaves with effects from secondary current processes on the Barents Sea margin offshore Norway. Marine Geology 2014 (0025–3227) 353 s. 108–127 Knies, Jochen; Cabedo-Sanz, Patricia; Belt, Simon T.; Baranwal, Soma; Fietz, Susanne; Rosell-Melé, Antoni 52 53 The emergence of modern sea ice cover in the Arctic Ocean. Nature Communications 2014 (2041-1723) 5 Knies, Jochen; Mattingsdal, Rune; Grøsfjeld, Kari; Baranwal, Soma; Husum, Katrine; De Schepper, Stijn; Vogt, Christoph; Andersen, Nils; Matthiessen, Jens; Andreassen, Karin et al. Effect of early Pliocene uplift on late Pliocene cooling in the Arctic–Atlantic gateway. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 2014 (0012-821X) 387 s. 132–144 Lepland, Aivo; Joosu, Lauri; Kirsimäe, Kalle; Prave, Anthony R.; Romashkin, Alexander E.; Črne, Alenka E.; Martin, Adam P.; Fallick, Anthony E.; Somelar, Peeter; Üpraus, Kärt et al. Potential influence of sulphur bacteria on Palaeoproterozoic phosphogenesis. Nature Geoscience 2014 (1752-0894) 7 s. 20–24 Mattingsdal, Rune; Knies, Jochen; Andreassen, Karin; Fabian, Karl; Husum, Katrine; Grøsfjeld, Kari; De Schepper, Stijn A new 6 Myr stratigraphic framework for the Atlantic–Arctic Gateway. Quaternary Science Reviews 2014 (0277-3791) 92 s. 170–178 Mohamed, Ezat; Rasmussen, Tine Lander; Groeneveld, Jeroen Persistent intermediate water warming during cold stadials in the southeastern Nordic seas during the past 65 k.y. Geology 2014 (0091-7613) 42 s. 663–666 Nielsen, Tove; Laier, Troels; Kuijpers, Antoon; Rasmussen, Tine Lander; Mikkelsen, Naja E.; Nørgård-Pedersen, Niels Fluid flow and methane occurrences in the Disko Bugt area offshore West Greenland: indications for gas hydrates? Geo-Marine Letters 2014 (0276-0460) 34 s. 511–523 Olsen, Jesper; Rasmussen, Tine Lander; Reimer, Paula J. North Atlantic marine radiocarbon reservoir ages through Heinrich event H4: a new method for marine age model construction. Geological Society Special Publication 2014 (0305-8719) 398 s. 95–112 Pau, Mauro; Hammer, Øyvind; Chand, Shyam Constraints on the dynamics of pockmarks in the SW Barents Sea: Evidence from gravity coring and highresolution, shallow seismic profiles. Marine Geology 2014 (0025-3227) 355 s. 330–345 Panieri, Giuliana; James, R. H.; Camerlenghi, A.; Westbrook, G. K.; Consolaro, Chiara; Cacho, I.; Cesari, V.; Cervera, C.S. Record of methane emissions from the West Svalbard continental margin during the last 23.500 yrs revealed by δ13C of benthic foraminifera. Global and Planetary Change 2014 (0921-8181) 122 s. 151–160 Panieri, Giuliana; Aharon, P.; Sen Gupta, B. K.; Camerlenghi, A.; Palmer Ferrer, F.; Cacho, I. CAG E – A NNUA L REPO R T Pub l i c atio n s Late Holocene foraminifera of Blake Ridge diapir: Assemblage variation and stable-isotope record in gashydrate bearing sediments. Marine Geology 2014 (00253227) 353 s. 99–107 Pavlov, Alexey K.; Silyakova, Anna; Granskog, Mats A.; Bellerby, Richard; Engel, Anja; Schulz, Kai G.; Brussaard, Corina P. D. Marine CDOM accumulation during a coastal Arctic mesocosm experiment: No response to elevated pCO2 levels. Journal of Geophysical Research – Biogeosciences 2014 (2169-8953) 119 s. 1216–1230 Plaza-Faverola, Andreia; Pecher, Ingo; Crutchley, Gareth; Barnes, Phil; Bünz, Stefan; Golding, Thomas Peter; Klaeschen, Dirk; Papenberg, Cord; Bialas, Jörg Submarine gas seepage in a mixed contractional and shear deformation regime: Cases from the Hikurangi oblique-subduction margin. Geochemistry Geophysics Geosystems 2014 (1525-2027) 15 s. 416–433 Portnov, Aleksei D; Mienert, Jurgen; Serov, Pavel Modeling the evolution of climate-sensitive Arctic subsea permafrost in regions of extensive gas expulsion at the West Yamal shelf. Journal of Geophysical Research – Biogeosciences 2014 (2169-8953) 119 s. 2082–2094 Rasmussen, Tine Lander; Thomsen, Erik Brine formation in relation to climate changes and ice retreat during the last 15,000 years in Storfjorden, Svalbard, 76–78°N. Paleoceanography 2014 (0883-8305) 29 s. 911–929 Rasmussen, Tine Lander; Thomsen, Erik; Skirbekk, Kari; Slubowska–Woldengen, Marta; Klitgaard Kristensen, Dorthe; Koc, Nalan Spatial and temporal distribution of Holocene temperature maxima in the northern Nordic seas: interplay of Atlantic-, Arctic- and polar water masses. Quaternary Science Reviews 2014 (0277-3791) 92 s. 280–291 Rasmussen, Tine Lander; Thomsen, Erik; Nielsen, Tove Water mass exchange between the Nordic Seas and the Arctic Ocean on millennial time scale during MIS 4–2. Geochemistry Geophysics Geosystems 2014 (1525-2027) 15 s. 530–544 Safronova, Polina; Henriksen, Sverre; Andreassen, Karin; Laberg, Jan Sverre; Vorren, Tore Ola Evolution of shelf-margin clinoforms and deep-water fans during the middle Eocene in the Sorvestsnaget Basin, southwest Barents Sea. American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin 2014 (0149-1423) 98 s. 515–544 Smith, Andrew James; Flemings, Peter B.; Fulton, Patrick M. Hydrocarbon flux from natural deepwater Gulf of Mexico vents. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 2014 (0012-821X) 395 s. 241–253 Smith, Andrew James; Flemings, Peter B.; Liu, Xiaoli; Darnell, Kristopher The evolution of methane vents that pierce the hydrate stability zone in the world’s oceans. Journal of Geophysical Research – Biogeosciences 2014 (2169-8953) 119 s. 6337–6356 Smith, Andrew James; Mienert, Jurgen; Bünz, Stefan; Greinert, Jens Thermogenic methane injection via bubble transport into the upper Arctic Ocean from the hydrate-charged Vestnesa Ridge, Svalbard. Journal of Geophysical Research – Solid Earth 2014 (2169-9313) 15 s. 1945–1959 Spagnolo, Matteo; Clark, Chris D.; Ely, Jeremy C.; Stokes, Chris R.; Anderson, John B.; Andreassen, Karin; Graham, Alastair G.C.; King, Edward C. Size, shape and spatial arrangement of mega-scale glacial lineations from a large and diverse dataset. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms 2014 (0197-9337) 39 s. 1432– 1448 Stokes, Chris R.; Corner, Geoffrey D.; Winsborrow, Monica; Husum, Katrine; Andreassen, Karin Asynchronous response of marine-terminating outlet glaciers during deglaciation of the Fennoscandian Ice Sheet. Geology 2014 (0091-7613) 42 s. 455–458 Tratt, David M.; Buckland, Kerry N.; Hall, Jeffrey L.; Johnson, Patrick D.; Keim, Eric R.; Leifer, Ira; Westberg, Karl; Young, Stephen J. Airborne visualization and quantification of discrete methane sources in the environment. Remote Sensing of Environment 2014 (0034-4257) 154 s. 74–88 Van Zuilen, Mark; Philippot, Pascal; Whitehouse, Martin J.; Lepland, Aivo Sulfur isotope massindependent fractionation in impact deposits of the 3.2 billion-year-old Mapepe Formation, Barberton Greenstone Belt, South Africa. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 2014 (0016-7037) 142 s. 429–441 Wastegård, Stefan; Rasmussen, Tine Lander Faroe Marine Ash Zone IV – a new MIS3 ash zone on the Faroe Islands margin. Geological Society Special Publication 2014 (0305-8719) 398 s. 81–93 Zamelczyk, Katarzyna; Rasmussen, Tine Lander; Husum, Katrine; Godtliebsen, Fred; Hald, Morten Surface water conditions and calcium carbonate preservation in the Fram Strait during marine isotope stage 2, 28.8–15.4 kyr. Paleoceanography 2014 (08838305) 29 s. 1–12 Prese ntations, abst r a c ts , poste r s 54 55 Presentations, abstracts, posters Abbott, P.M., Davies, S., Griggs, A., Bourne, A., Cook, E., Austin, W., Chapman, M., Hall, I., Purcell, C., Rasmussen, T.L., Scourse, J., 2014. TRACEing Last Glacial Period (25–80 ka b2k) Tephra Horizons between North Atlantic marine-cores and the Greenland icecores. EGU General Assembly, April 26–May 2, Vienna, Austria, Geophysical Research Abstracts 2014, Vol. 16, EGU2014-5684 Andreassen, K., Deryabin, A., Rafaelsen, B., Richardsen, M. 2014. Connections between glacial dynamics and deeper hydrocarbon reservoirs leakages at the Polar North Atlantic Margin. Invited presentation at EGU General Assembly, Vienna, Austria, Geophysical Research Abstracts, Vol. 16, EGU2014-16665-1, 2014 Andreassen, K., Rafaelsen, B., Deryabin, A., Mienert, J., Buenz, S., Knies, J., Carroll, J., Ferre, B., Rasmussen, T. 2014. The role of ice ages for fluid flow and gas hydrates. Poster at Gordon Research Conference on Natural Gas Hydrate Systems, 23–28.03, Galveston, USA. Andreassen, K., Corner, G.D., Stokes, C.R., Winsborrow, C.M. 2014. Deglaciation of the fennoscandian Ice Sheet at its northern margin. Presentation at 31st Nordic Geological Winter Meeting, Lund, Sweden Bobrov, A., Wetterich, S., Schneider, A., Schirrmeister, L. and Pestryakova, L. (2014). Ecology and paleoecology of testate amoebae of polygon tundra in NE Siberia, 4th European Conference on Permafrost, Evora, 18 June 2014–21 June 2014. Schirrmeister, L., Schneider, A., Wetterich, S. and Pestryakova, L. A. (2014). Summer and annual environmental variations of two polygons in the Indigirka-Kolyma lowland, 4th European Conference on Permafrost, Evora, 18 June 2014–21 June 2014. Camerlenghi A., deLange G., Flecker R., GarciaCastellanos D., Hübscher C., Krijgsman W., Lofi J., Lugli S., McGenity T., Manzi V., Panieri G., Rabineau M., Roveri M. and Sierro F.J. Deep-sea Record of Mediterranean Messinian Events DREAM. Regional Committee on Mediterranean Neogene Stratigraphy. Bucharest, 27–30 September 2013. Angelo Camerlenghi, Johanna Lofi, Gert De Lange, Rachel Flecker, Daniel Garcia‐Castellanos, Christian Hubscher, Wout Krijgsman, Stefano Lugli, Vinicio Manzi, Terry McGenity, Giuliana Panieri, Marina Rabineau, Marco Roveri, Francisco Sierro. Deep-sea Record of Mediterranean Messinian Events (DREAM). CHIKYU+10 Workshop, Tokyo, Japan, 21–23 April 2013 Angelo Camerlenghi, Gert De Lange, Rachel Flecker, Daniel Garcia-Castellanos, Christian Hubscher, Johanna Lofi, Wout Krijgsman, Stefano Lugli, Vinicio Manzi, Terry McGenity, Giuliana Panieri, Marina Rabineau, Marco Roveri, Francisco Sierro. Deep-Sea Record Of Mediterranean Messinian Events (Dream). (poster). 40th Mediterranean Science Commission (CIESM) Congress, Marseille, France, 28 October–1 November 2013. Angelo Camerlenghi, Johanna Lofi, Gert De Lange, Rachel Flecker, Daniel Garcia-Castellanos, Christian Hubscher, Wout Krijgsman, Stefano Lugli, Vinicio Manzi, Terry McGenity, Giuliana Panieri, Marina Rabineau, Marco Roveri, Francisco Sierro. Deep-Sea Record Of Mediterranean Messinian Events (Dream). 9th TOPO-EUROPE Workshop, Certosa di Pontignano, Italy, 9–11 October 2013. Angelo Camerlenghi, Vanni Aoisi, Johanna Lofi, Christian Hübscher, Gert deLange, Rachel Flecker, Daniel Garcia-Castellanos, Christian Gorini, Zohar Gvirtzman, Wout Krijgsman, Stefano Lugli, Yizhaq Makowsky, Vinicio Manzi, Terry McGenity, Giuliana Panieri, Marina Rabineau, Marco Roveri, Francisco Javier Sierro, and Nicolas Waldmann and the DREAM Team. Uncovering a Salt Giant Deep-Sea Record of Mediterranean Messinian Events (DREAM) multi-phase drilling project. EuroForum 2014: Major achievements and perspectives in scientific ocean and continental drilling. European Geosciences Union General Assembly 2014, Vienna, Austria, 27 April–02 May 2014. Angelo Camerlenghi, Vanni Aoisi, Johanna Lofi, Christian Hübscher, Gert deLange, Rachel Flecker, Daniel Garcia-Castellanos, Christian Gorini, Zohar Gvirtzman, Wout Krijgsman, Stefano Lugli, Yizhaq Makowsky, Vinicio Manzi, Terry McGenity, Giuliana Panieri, Marina Rabineau, Marco Roveri, Francisco Javier Sierro, and Nicolas Waldmann, 2014. Uncovering a Salt Giant. Deep-Sea Record of Mediterranean Messinian Events (DREAM) multi-phase drilling project. EuroForum 2014: Major achievements and perspectives in scientific ocean and continental drilling (including Arne Richter Award for Outstanding Young Scientists Lecture) (co-organized). Geophysical CAG E – A NNUA L REPO R T Pr ese ntatio n s , abst ra c ts , poste r s Research Abstracts Vol. 16, EGU2014-7443, 2014, EGU General Assembly 2014. Angelo Camerlenghi, Giovanni Aloisi, Sierd Cloetingh, Hugh Daigle, Gert DeLange, Rachel Flecker, Daniel Garcia-Castellanos, Zohar Gvirtzman, Christian Hübscher, Wout Krijgsman, Junichiro Kuroda, Johanna Lofi, Stefano Lugli, Agnès Maillard-Lenoir, Yizhaq Makovsky, Vinicio Manzi, Terry McGenity, Andrea Moscariello, Marina Rabineau, Marco Roveri, Francisco Javier Sierro, Nicolas Waldmann and the DREAM Team. Uncovering a Salt Giant. Umbrella proposal of the Deep-Sea Record of Mediterranean Messinian Events (DREAM) multi-phase drilling project. Joint IODP-ICDP Townhall Meeting, European Geosciences Union General Assembly 2014, Vienna, Austria, 27 April–02 May 2014. Ezat, M.M., Rasmussen, T.L., Honiesch, B., Groeneveld, J. 2014. Millennial Scale Variability in subsurface ρCO2 in the Norwegian Sea during the Last 42 kyr. Goldschmidt Conference 2014, Sacramento, California, 8–13 June Abstract 4211 Ezat, M.M., Rasmussen, T.L., Honiesch, B., Olsen, J., Groeneveld, J. 2014, Reconstructing the subsurface pCO2, nutrients enrichment and ventilation in the Nordic seas during the last 140,000 years. IPODSOC3 meeting ‘Deglacial Deep Ocean Circulation and Biogeochemical Cycling, Bern University, 30 September to 3 October, 2014. Ezat, M.M., Rasmussen, T.L., Groeneveld, J. 2014. Persistent Intermediate Water Warming during Cold Stadials in the SE Nordic Seas during the Last 65 Kyr. AGU Fall Meeting, San Francisco, USA, 15–19 Dec. 2014. EOS Transactions AGU Fall Meeting Supplement, Abstract PP13B-1431 Bénédicte Ferré. Instrumentation for methane release quantification. “Detection of seep sites by advanced subsea technology”. Trondheim. May 15th 2014 Bénédicte Ferré. “General Oceanography and in the Northern North Atlantic”. AMGG Research School Workshop, Tromsø, June 11–13, 2014. Bénédicte Ferré. “overview of CAGE” Kongsberg Kick-off meeting, Tromsø, October 30, 2014. Bénédicte Ferré, Anna Silyakova, Pär Jansson. “Water column measurement during the summer 2014 Western Svalbard”. MOCA meeting, Oslo, November 26–27, 2014 Bénédicte Ferré, Anna Silyakova, Pär Jansson. “Water Column – Methane release and gas quantification”. CAGE Christmas seminar, Tromsø, December 10– 11, 2014. Pär Jansson, Bénédicte Ferré, Anna Silyakova, Mario Veloso, Jens Greinert. Methane seeps Western Svalbard – Quantification of dissolved methane and free gas. CAGE Christmas seminar, Tromsø, December 10– 11, 2014. Jernas, P., Kuhn, G., Hillenbrand, K.D., Forwick, M., Rasmussen, T.L., Mackensen, A., Schröder, M., Szczuciński, W.,Smith, J., Klages, J.P., 2014 Shallow sediment records from the Amundsen Sea Embayment. Geochronology and Paleoenvironmental Interpretation of Selected Rock Successions in West Antarctica – Workshop Institute of Geological Sciences May 28–29, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland Jernas, P., Kuhn, G., Hillenbrand, K.D., Forwick, M., Rasmussen, T.L., Mackensen, A., Schröder, M., Szczuciński, W., 2014. Modern foraminifera assemblages in the Amundsen Sea Embayment. XXX111 SCAR Biennial Meetings and Open Science Conference 2014, Auckland, New Zealand, 25.08-3.09.2014 Joel Johnson, Stephen Phillips, Giuliana Panieri, Simone Sauer, Jochen Knies, and Jurgen Mienert, 2014.Tracking paleo-SMT positions using a magnetic susceptibility proxy approach from sediments on the Arctic Vestnesa Ridge, offshore western Svalbard. Geophysical Research Abstracts Vol. 16, EGU2014-13511, 2014, EGU General Assembly 2014. POSTER. Joel E. Johnson, Stephen Phillips, Simone Sauer, Giuliana Panieri, Andrea Schneider, Jochen Knies, Andreia Plaza Faverola, and Jürgen Mienert 2015. Tracking paleo-SMT positions using a magnetic susceptibility proxy approach from sediments on the Arctic Vestnesa Ridge, offshore western Svalbard. Poster presentation. Gordon Conference on Natural Gas Hydrate Systemes March 23–28, 2014 in Galveston, Texas, US. Sergei Korsun, Elisabeth Alve, Elena Golikova, Silvia Hess, Katrine Husum, Giuliana Panieri and Joachim Schoenfeld. Does AMBI, a commonly used macrofaunabased ecological monitoring measure, work for benthic foraminifera? The Fobimo-NE Atlantic group. FORAMS 2014, the International Symposium on Foraminifera, Concepcion, Chile, January 19–24, 2014. Katrina Kremer, Mohamed Usman, Yasufumi Satoguchi, Yoshitaka Nagahashi, Giuliana Panieri & Michael Strasser, 2014. Timing of mass transport deposits at site Prese ntations, abst r a c ts , poste r s C0018 (IODP Exp. 333). 12th Swiss Geoscience Meeting, Fribourg 2014. POSTER. Kuznetsova, E., Tanski, G., Bevington, A., Harder, S., Hogström, E., Strauss, J., Maslakov, A., Schneider, A., Longo, W., Blitz, R. and Fritz, M. (2014) The Permafrost Young Researchers Network (PYRN): Involving the young generation of polar scientists to crossdisciplinary knowledge exchanges, policy and strategy discussions. Arctic Change 2014, Ottawa, Canada, 8 December 2014–12 December 2014. Michel, E., Vivier, F., Lansard, B., Waelbroeck, C., Lourenço, A., Bouruet-Aubertot, P., Vancoppenolle, M., Cuypers, Y., Boutin, J., Madec, G., Morata, N., Weill, A., Schiebel, R., Rousset, C., Bopp, L., Eymard, L., Merlivat, L., Benshila, R., Howa, H., Dokken, T., Fer, I., Rasmussen, T.L., Chierici, M., Fransson, A., 2014. Physical processes associated to brine formation and the influence of brine on carbon fluxes and deep ocean circulation. Bordeaux Workshop: The Changing Arctic and Sub-Arctic Marine Environment: Proxy and Model Based Reconstructions – University of Bordeaux, Talence, France, Feb. 4–6 Jurgen Mienert, Karin Andreassen, Jochen Knies, JoLynn Carroll, Stephan Bünz, Benedicte Ferre, Tine Rasmussen, Giuliana Panieri, and Catherine Lund Myhre, 2014. Dynamics in the methane hydrate system of the Arctic Ocean. Geophysical Research Abstracts Vol. 16, EGU2014-13426, 2014, EGU General Assembly 2014. Mienert, J., Andreassen, K., Knies, J., Caroll, J., Bünz, S., Ferré, B., Rasmussen, T.L., Panieri, G., Myhre, C.L., 2014. Dynamics in the methane hydrate system of the Arctic Ocean. EGU General Assembly, April 26–May 2, Vienna, Austria, Geophysical Research Abstracts 2014, Vol. 16, EGU2014-13426 Morgenstern, A., Abbott, B. W., Belova, N., Ekici, A., Frolov, D., Lepage, J., Ma, Y., Fritz, M., Oliva, M., Schneider, A., Stanilovskaya, J. and Nieuwendam, A. (2014). The Permafrost Young Researchers Network (PYRN): Integrating priorities for permafrost research over the next generation, EUCOP4 – 4th European Conference on Permafrost, Évora, Portugal, 18 June 2014 – 21 June 2014. Nielsen, T., Bjerager, M., Lindström, S., Nøhr-Hansen, N., Rasmussen, T.L., 2014. Pre-breakup age of East Greenland Ridge strata. EGU General Assembly April 26–May 2, Vienna, Austria, Geophysical Research Abstracts 2014, Vol. 16, EGU2014-6127 56 57 Daiki Nomura, M.A. Granskog, A. Fransson, A. Silyakova, S. Hudson, M. Chierici, P. Assmy, B. Delille, M. Kotovitch, G.S. Dieckmann, H. Steen. Mid-winter freeze experiment in the Arctic Ocean: Norwegian Young sea ICE cruise (N-ICE2015), The Fifth Symposium on Polar Science, National Institute of Polar Research (NIPR), Tokyo, Japan, 2–5 December 2014. Giuliana Panieri, Chiara Consolaro, Rachael James, Graham Westbrook, Tine Rasmussen, and Jürgen Mienert, 2014. Record of methane emissions from the Arctic during the last Deglaciation. Geophysical Research Abstracts Vol. 16, EGU2014-11992-1, 2014, EGU General Assembly 2014. ORA. Giuliana Panieri, Chiara Consolaro, Tine Rasmussen, Jürgen Mienert, Karin Andreassen, Jochen Knies, JoLynn Carroll, Stephan Bünz, Bénédicte Ferré, Anna Silyakova, Catherine Lund Myhre, 2014. Tracing methane emissions in the Arctic Ocean using foraminifera. Poster at Gordon Research Conference on Natural Gas Hydrate Systems, 23–28.03, Galveston, USA Panieri, G., Consolaro, C., James, R.H., Rasmussen, T.L., Westbrook, G.K., Mienert, J., 2014. Record of methane emissions from the Arctic during the last Deglaciation. EGU General Assembly April 26–May 2, Vienna, Austria, Geophysical Research Abstracts 2014, Vol. 16, EGU2014-11992 Panieri G., Invited at Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen for a talk “Tracking methane emissions with benthic foraminifera”. Copenhagen, Denmark, 14 November 2014. Panieri G., Invited at the Press Conferences: “The changing Arctic”, 29 April 2014, EGU General Assembly, Vienna, Austria, 2014. Panieri G., Invited as Discussion leader at “Gas Hydrates and Ecosystem Ecology”, Gordon Conference on Natural Gas Hydrate Systems Emerging Research, Technologies and The Industry, March 23–28, 2014, Galveston, TX (USA). Patton, H., Hubbard, A., Bradwell, T., Glasser, N.F., Hambrey, M.J., Clark, C.D., Rapid marine deglaciation: asynchronous retreat dynamics between the Irish Sea Ice Stream and terrestrial outlet glaciers, Ice Sheet System Model workshop, 2–4 June 2014, Bergen. Patton, H., Hubbard, A., Winsborrow, M., Andreassen, K., Geophysical constraints on the dynamics and retreat of the Barents Sea Ice Sheet as a palaeo-benchmark for models of marine ice-sheet CAG E – A NNUA L REPO R T Pr ese ntatio n s , abst ra c ts , poste r s deglaciation, International Glaciological Society Nordic Branch, 30 October–1 November 2014, Iceland. Piesecka, E., Andreassen, K., Stokes, C. 2014. Formation of mega-scale glacial lineations in central Bjørnøyrenna, Barents Sea and implications for palaeo-ice stream flow directions and dynamics. Past Gateways International Conference, Trieste, Italy, 18–23.05.2014. Marina Rabineau, Angelo Camerlenghi and the GOLD and DREAM Scientific teams Scientific Drilling in the Mediterranean Sea : Where and Why? Challenges of New Frontier Off-Shore Deep Water Hydrocarbon Basins: Focus on the Levant Basin and East Mediterranean. AAPG GTW Beirut, Lebanon. Monday, May 27, 2013. Rasmussen, T.L., Thomsen, E., Nielsen, T., 2014. The Arctic Ocean in response to millennial time scale paleoceanographic changes during the last glaciation, 70-25 years BP. EGU General Assembly April 26–May 2, Vienna, Austria, Geophysical Research Abstracts 2014, Vol. 16, EGU2014-10788 Rasmussen T.L., Thomsen, E., 2014. Rapid response of Arctic land ice during Dansgaard-Oeschger events and water exchange between the Atlantic and Arctic oceans. AGU Fall Meeting, San Francisco, USA, 15–19 Dec. 2014. EOS Transactions AGU Fall Meeting Supplement, Abstract PP13B-1413 Schneider A, Wetterich S, Sannel ABK, Pestryakova LA, Schirrmeister L 2014. Ice-wedge polygons as habitat for freshwater ostracods in the Indigirka Lowland, northeast Siberia. 4th European Conference on Permafrost (EUCOP), 18–21 June 2014, Èvora, Portugal Schneider A, Wetterich S, Schirrmeister L, Sannel ABK, Pestryakova LA 2014. Süsswasserostracoden (Crustacea) und Umweltvariabilität in Permafrostgewässern des Indigirka-Tieflandes, NE Sibirien. Meeting of the German Quaternary Association (DEUQUA) in Innsbruck, Austria. September 24–20, 2014. Anna Silyakova. “Biogeochemistry of methane in the Arctic Ocean”. AMGG Research School Workshop, Tromsø, June 11–13, 2014. Anna Silyakova, D. Nomura, M.A. Granskog, S. Hudson. CAGE in N-ICE2015 expedition – Mid-winter freeze experiment in the Arctic Ocean: Norwegian Young sea ICE cruise (N-ICE2015). CAGE Christmas seminar, Tromsø, December 10–11, 2014 M Strasser, B Dugan, P Henry, M J Jurado, K Kanagawa, T Kanamatsu, G F Moore, G Panieri, G A Pini, 2014. OS31E-01 Dynamics of large submarine landslide from analyzing the basal section of mass-transport deposits sampled by IODP Nankai Trough Submarine Landslide History (NanTroSLIDE). AGU Fall Meeting, San Francisco 15–19 December 2014. Sztybor, K., Rasmussen, T.L., Mienert, J., Bünz, S., Consolaro, C., 2014. Influence of methane release from the seabed on reliability of the paleo-record.12th International Conference on Gas in Marine Sediments (GIMS), Taipei, Taiwan, Sept. 1–6, 2014 Tanski, G., Bevington, A., Kuznetsova, E., Harder, S., Frolov, D., Lenz, J., Högström, E., Strauss, J., Maslakov, A., Schneider, A., Longo, W., Recio Blitz, C. and Radosavljevic, B. (2014): The Permafrost Young Researchers Network (PYRN): From EUCOP 2014 to ICOP 2016. Arctic Change 2014, Ottawa, Canada, 8 December 2014–12 December 2014. Zamelczyk, K., Rasmussen, T.L., Manno, C., Bijma, J., Bauerfeind, E. 2014. Arctic planktonic foraminifera under the stress of climate and ocean chemistry changes in the past and present XXX111 SCAR Biennial Meetings and Open Science Conference 2014, Auckland, New Zealand, 25.08-3.09.2014, Ref ID: 332 Organisatio n 58 Advisory Board CAGE – Centre Leader Administration Leader WP 1 Leader WP 2 Leader WP 3 59 Steering Committee Communications Coordinator Leader WP 4 Leader WP 5 Leader WP 6 Leader WP 7 Leader Research School Steering Committee Kenneth Ruud Morten Hald Nalan Koc Morten Smelror Jarle Husebø Prof., Pro-Rector for Research Prof. Dean NT-faculty, UiT PhD, Research Director, PhD, Adm. Director, PhD, Senior researcher, Norwegian Polar Institute Norwegian Geological Survey unconventional resources, and Development, UiT STATOIL Advisory board meets CAGE team Early career scientists, as well as work package leaders, presented our recent scientific efforts to the Advisory Board in January 2015. From left back: Professor Gerald Haug (Board member from University of Zürich/ Max Plank Institute), Thorbjörg Hroarsdottir, Jürgen Mienert, Tine Rasmussen, Stefan Bünz, professor Georgy Cherkashov (Board member – University of St. Petersburg/ VNIIOkeanologia), Karin Andreassen, professor Antje Boetius (Board member, Alfred Wegener Institute/Max Plank Institute) Wei-Li Hong, JoLynn Carroll, Giuliana Panieri, Heidi Roggen (Reasearch Council of Norway). From left front: Anna Silyakova, Andreia Plaza Faverola, Benedicte Ferre, Monica Winsborrow and Jochen Knies. Photo: Maja Sojtaric Other advisory board members not pressent at this meeting: Drs Timothy Collett / Carolyn Ruppel, USGS and Dr. Scott Dallimore, Geological Survey of Canada. CAG E – A NNUA L REPO R T Fac t s h eet Personnel There are 49 percent women and 51 percent men in our scientific staff. This is way above the average of 21 percent women in STEM fields in the OECD countries, and significantly above the average of 16 percent in Norway. More than 60 percent of our staff are PhD students and earlycareer scientists. Senior scientific staff: PhD Candidates: Jürgen Mienert, professor Pavel Serov Karin Andreassen, professor. Sandra Hurter Tine L. Rasmussen, professor. Giacomo Osti Alun Hubbard, professor. Alexandros Tasianas Stefan Bünz, associate professor. Alexey Portnov Giuliana Panieri, associate professor Sunny Singroha JoLynn Carroll, adjunct professor Kate Waghorn Cathrine Lund Myhre, senior scientist. Emilia Daria Piasecka Leonid Polyak, adjunct professor. Mariana da Silveira Ramos Esteves William Ambrose, visiting professor Eythor Gudlaugsson Joel Johnson, visiting professor. Calvin Shackelton Jens Greinert, visiting professor. Nikolitsa Alexandropoulou Emmelie Linnea Åström Researchers: Pär Gunnar Jansson Bénedicté Ferré. Simone Sauer Jochen Knies Kärt Üpraus Monica Winsborrow Mohamed Ezat Michael Carroll. Kamila Sztybor Shyam Chand. Andrea Schneider Staff and gender 49% 51% Andreia Plaza Faverola Terje Thorsnes Adminstrative and technical staff: Reidulv Bøe Maja Sojtaric, communications coordinator Karl Fabian Anoop Mohanan Nair, engineer. Aivo Lepland Edel Ellingsen, research engineer. Postdoctoral Researchers: CAGE supervised Master students: Håkon Mikalsen, Yohannes Tesfay, Aleksander Wiik, Olga Agafanova, Adrian Lium-Wickler, Anders Edvardsen, Anna-Maria Hatland, Ingvild Westvig Myrvang, Carita E. Eira Varjola, Janita Nordahl, Torbjørn Kristiansen, Daniel Tesfamariam, Nils Karlsen, Lisa Mathisen, Lena Mathisen, Björg Jónsdóttir, Erna Osk Arnardottir, Karoline Myrvang, Vårin Trælvik Eilertsen, Boriss Kovalenko, Christine Lockwood, John Sverre Løvaas, Frank Jakobsen, Anders Edvardsen. Soma Baranwal Antoine Cremiere Sunil Vadakkepuliyambatta Peter Franek Henry Patton Frederike Gründiger Anna Silyakova Wei Li Hong Chiara Consolaro Katarzyna Zamelczyk Budget Cost plan (in NOK 1000) Gender 2014 NFR UiT 29.698 9.714 19.984 100 100 Other operating expenses 21.534 10.520 11.014 Totals 51.332 20.335 30.997 Payroll and indirect expenses Procurement of R&D services (NGU) Fa ct sheet 60 Collaborations CAGE is collaborating on different levels with several national and international research institutions and offshore industries. National Durham University, UK Geological Survey of Norway (CAGE partner) Bangor University, UK University of Oslo Leeds University, UK University of Bergen University of East Anglia, UK University Centre in Svalbard University of Warwick, UK Institute of Marine Research Swansea University, UK Norwegian Polar Institute University of Nordland National Oceanographic Centre NOC, Southampton, UK Norwegian Institute of Water Research British Antarctic Survey, UK Department of Arctic and Marine Biology, UiT The Arctic University of Norway University of Manchester, UK Nordic Environmental Nucleotide Network (NENUN) Institut francais de recherche pour l’exploitation de la mer (IFREMER), France Norwegian institute for Air Research (NILU) Le Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS), France AkvaplanNiva British Geological Survey (BGS), UK University of Ghent, Belgium Other collaborations Geological Survey of Canada (GSC), Canada Norwegian Petroleum Directorate Statoil Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources, Germany Kongsberg Maritime MARUM, University of Bremen, Germany Norwegian Defence Research Establishment, FFI GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research, Germany Lundin Petroleum Alfred Wegener Institute, Germany Integrated Ocean Drilling Program, IODP. VNIIOkeangeologia, Russia International Murmansk Arctic Geological Expedition (MAGE), Russia Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, USA Moscow State University, Russia Harvard University, USA Winogradsky Institute of Microbiology, Russia Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, USA Istituto Nazionale di Oceanografia e di Geofisica (OSG), Italy Byrd Polar Research Centre, Ohio State University, USA Bates College, USA Institute of Marine Sciences, Barcelona, Spain Oregon State University, USA Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland, Denmark University of New Hampshire, USA University of Aarhus, Denmark United States Geological Survey (USGS), USA University of Vienna, Austria University of Cambridge, UK Stockholm University, Sweden St. Andrews University, Scotland, UK 61 CAG E – A NNUA L REPO R T Fina l Remark s Joel Johnson, visiting professor My guest research stay in CAGE, during a one year sabbatical from the University of New Hampshire, provided me with an extraordinary opportunity to work with a large group of methane hydrate scientists, to collect new data, and to advance our understanding of methane hydrate systems in the Arctic. As a one-year guest researcher in CAGE, I had the time and support to focus on data collection, during two CAGE-led research cruises, data analysis, and manuscript preparation. The resulting data formed the basis for two high profile papers that are now in press (2015). I also helped collect and analyze several sediment cores, and with CAGE support, presented preliminary results from this work at two international meetings in 2014. Samples from these cores and continued analyses continues this collaboration and will result in additional publications. The research success during my guest appointment in CAGE was enabled by the collaborative and open research environment that CAGE promotes, the in-person interactions and discussions I had with several CAGE scientists throughout the year, and the unprecedented field access, via the CAGE/UiT research vessel Helmer Hanssen, to the Arctic Ocean region. Photo: Kai Mortensen. Follow us For regular updates on CAGE activities follow us on: www.cage.uit.no facebook.com/cageuit @cage_coe @cage_coe Fin al Rema rks CAGE Christmas seminar 2014 We aim to arrange an annual conference in December where students and senior scientists present their scientific progress to their collegues. The Christmas Seminar 2014 was a success, attended by most of the staff. It led to increased integration between work packages and better overview of future scientific priorities. 62 63 COVER PHOTO: NASA